feint

A little shimmy in the area to feint away from a defender, then a precise curling finish into the top corner.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

The Danish director of “Drive” hasn’t made a feature film since “Neon Demon” premiered at Cannes in 2016 and this grim fairy tale feels more like a feint than a comeback.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026

Perhaps this is a feint in some grand art of the deal.

From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2025

Lamm slipped in another feint, which was to raise the question of whether Greenblatt is sufficiently engaged with Jewishness to merit a defense from antisemitism.

From Slate ● Oct. 2, 2023

This position in the orchestra, but putative, conceived as a feint to draw me away from my fellows so that rogues might throw me in chains—this phantasm might now be conjured to solidity.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

War is filled with flopping, feints and trickery.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 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

In these situations, he would carry his team upfield using deceptive feints to create space from opponents pressing him.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2025

Bud started upping the feints, forcing Willie to swing wide and hard.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2023

He made two half-hearted feints toward the basket, hoping to catch Ben off balance and get an unchallenged set shot.

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

The fight begun with both athletes showing patience as Volkanovski feinted and switched stances, while Makhachev looked for openings.

From BBC ● Feb. 12, 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

Lang hammered his entrance like the first hard few drops of an incoming storm and just as quickly feinted into an airy, gentle touch, from the ground to the clouds in an instant.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2021

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

Near the brush fence two roosters bowed and feinted at each other with squared wings and neck feathers ruffed out.

From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck

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

From Washington Post ● Jan. 11, 2023

Donato would then put his team ahead in the shootout round, feinting right and deking goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to the left.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 17, 2022

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

First, Turnbull slipped after feinting to play the ball out in his own box, and that allowed Mitchel Bakker to square for Hincapie to sweep home the opener on 25 minutes.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2021

He was oversimplifying here, skittering off there, dodging and feinting.

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee