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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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
“And he doesn’t bluff, either. What he does is groom us. He prepares us for things that would otherwise be unthinkable.”
From Salon ● May 26, 2026
Administration officials fielded phone calls from executives and political allies trying to decipher whether Trump’s threat was a bluff or a prelude to an escalation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
Or it could be some combination of bluff and wishful thinking.
From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2026
I hold the clothes in front of Cleo just to call his bluff.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
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
A bluffer, he has a sneaking respect for anyone who throws a bluff and gets away with it.
From My Actor-Husband A true story of American stage life by Anonymous
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
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 Gaboriau, Émile
Among the latter may be classed Karl Steinmetz—the bluffest of the bluff—innocent even of his own innocence.
From The Sowers by Merriman, Henry Seton
In his bluffest and heartiest way Blake refused to hear of such a thing.
From Love Eternal by Haggard, Henry Rider
One woman was taken off of the beach and up to the bluffs via helicopter, while a second woman was carried up in a Stokes basket, according to county Fire Capt. Kyle Breton.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
Then CRG turned south to Festus, nestled near limestone bluffs and densely forested hilltops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 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
At a Sunday morning memorial, club members and friends walked together along the bluffs at Lovers Point, tracing the route of Fox’s final mile in the water, the Mercury News reported.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
They set up shop on the bluffs that mark the edge of high water—close enough to the river to fish, far enough to avoid the flood.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
They bought in for $100 and bluffed when bored.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2023
Okay, she often bluffed and implied all sorts of things I knew weren’t true.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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
Beneath all the bluffing lies a determination of credibility.
From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2025
"We aren't bluffing or joking - we don't have a purpose media wise we are only for money and money only and one of our main managers wanted me to reach out to you."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2025
I started easing my hand down into my pocket, to try bluffing . . . and one of them snatched open the door.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
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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