bluff
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Some interpreted the move as the market calling the Federal Reserve’s bluff.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026
“I think the best way to put it is that the market is calling his bluff on inflation,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Is it possible, many have wondered, to foresee when and where a bluff might collapse — and perhaps even turn these predictions into early warning alerts?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The roughly 1.16-acre property in Point Dume has nine bedrooms, a 20-vehicle garage and about 176 feet of bluff frontage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
The near shore, all rocks below a bluff, gave us no good place to land, so we sailed around to the harbor where it was easier.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
He said he thought Mr McCormack was a bluffer because he was saying: "You have options, or else" which Mr Williams saw as "a threat".
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2024
He was a bluffer, implying he advised people he didn’t, and a leaker, ratting out his allies in pursuit of his own agenda.
From Slate ● Aug. 3, 2016
A bluffer, a gambler… he’d rather do it the hard way.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2012
He'd been a bit of a bluffer at his first musical conservatoire.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 23, 2010
"What did he mean by bluffer?" said Enslee.
From What Will People Say? A novel by Rupert Hughes
Preparatory work had been done by a committee headed by Arthur Balfour Baron Riverdale of Sheffield, 62, one of Britain's biggest, baldest, blondest, bluffest steel tycoons.
From Time Magazine Archive
Biggest and bluffest of the four executive vice presidents is balding, 61-year-old Marvin E. Coyle, known as "Mr. Facts & Figures."
From Time Magazine Archive
In his bluffest and heartiest way Blake refused to hear of such a thing.
From Love Eternal by Henry Rider Haggard
At this stroke the man began to get angry; he frowned, and in his bluffest tone, began: "Look here now, you—" "Ta, ta, ta," interrupted M. Lecoq.
From The Mystery of Orcival by Émile Gaboriau
Among the latter may be classed Karl Steinmetz—the bluffest of the bluff—innocent even of his own innocence.
From The Sowers by Henry Seton Merriman
The listing describes the seven-bedroom home at 7640 Tobia Way as a “showcase of Santa Barbara-inspired architecture” that is “privately positioned along the bluffs on 8.2 acres.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
It was the culmination of a series of feints and bluffs in the preceding hours and days as the former reality TV star kept the world guessing.
From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026
Downtown, where bluffs rise above the serpentine Mississippi River, George Campbell was walking his goldendoodle, Zac, when he spotted a group of National Guard soldiers in fatigues, handguns holstered at their hips.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
It runs about 1.6 miles between the roadside and the bluffs over the Pacific.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
I see distant jagged mountain bluffs touch the sky.
From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Later, when sent to a chemical plant, he volunteered to work as a welder and bluffed his way through a quiz designed to test his qualifications.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
With Green stepping back to flay an expected short ball, he was bluffed by a Carse yorker that splattered the stumps.
From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025
He bluffed, saying he had no debit card.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
Somehow, whether Judge wanted to stay all along and bluffed the Yankees into a bigger offer or whether the star was really considering other pitches, Cashman was unfazed by Wednesday morning.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 7, 2022
I knew I should never get away from the bully unless I bluffed.
From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin
Those who remain alive might well be bluffing, projecting resolve even if they would privately prefer to sue for peace.
From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2026
The game is open and there is no scope for bluffing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 25, 2026
Mehdi, a 58-year-old salesman believes the opposite, saying that "the Americans are bluffing" and that "the negotiations will be 100% successful".
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
"A lot of people thought he was bluffing on more than a few things," he says.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2025
“You were bluffing, then. She was never in danger.”
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
Vocabulary lists containing bluff
100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know
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Tricky Terms for April Fool's Day
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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