feint

But this is all a feint: The movie sets you up for one thing and then delivers another.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The gimmicks are effective, though a bit of a feint.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2025

Hathaway fell for Paulo Garbisi's feint that opened space for Capuozzo to pop up from nowhere and tap down with a wonderful finish.

From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2025

It's a feint, an effort to scare his opponents into believing his ascension is unstoppable, so they stop fighting him.

From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2023

He likes to feint, pretend his sword is going one way rather than another.

From "Black Brother, Black Brother" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

War is filled with flopping, feints and trickery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

Kvaratskhelia's feints cause Stanisic to step up, rendering him unable to track the run in behind.

From BBC ● May 30, 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

It is the most delicate of dances, rife with subtle signals, attacks and feints, and deniable action.

From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2024

The stride length, the quickness of the foot feints, all clearly revealed to his unfailing eye, made him reassess his second conclusion.

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

The Italian was 0.3secs behind the McLaren crossing the line into the last lap, but although he feinted a move into Tarzan, he was not close enough to make it work.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

Politano turned provider two minutes before halftime as he sent Kvaratskhelia down the left and the winger cut inside, feinted and then squeezed a shot between Verona goalkeeper Lorenzo Montipò and the near post.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 21, 2023

At the end of the first half, Brown feinted a drive that rocked Ute defender Both Gach off balance before stepping back for a contested 22-foot three-pointer that splashed through the net as time expired.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 2, 2022

The battle on film was a sequence of explosive lunges: mauve, black, gold and scarlet feathers flying as the birds leapt, feinted and struck out with talons.

From New York Times ● Aug. 18, 2021

Wielding their harmless foils, Hamlet and Laertes thrust and feinted with a mortal seriousness.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

The fight started with the Briton pushing forward, as he would throughout the following 25 minutes, feinting and landing leg kicks, while chants of "Colby, Colby" rung out around the arena.

From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2023

They envision themselves bobbing and weaving, triangulating and feinting — filling the air with meaningless cliches so that no one knows where they stand and no one can hold them accountable.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2023

Salesses knows exactly how to get these giants pounding up and down the court — pivoting, feinting, shooting!

From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2023

Moore for a 10-yard score — a pass made possible by Newton stepping up in the pocket, feinting a scramble to draw in the safety to leave Moore open.

From Washington Times ● Nov. 21, 2021

So she flourished it, feinting to right and left, not intending to hit him at all, and he didn’t move.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman