outwit

To onlookers, it was astonishing seeing a schoolgirl in a headband outwit adults who had been competing at top-flight events since before she was born.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

Mosquitoes “are always going to find a way to outwit us; it is amazing how variable they are, and because they’re so adaptable, they are unpredictable,” he said.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

Maybe all the answers have already been written, and we’re just characters in a story, trying to outwit fate.

From Salon ● May 19, 2026

Unlike Harry and co, who would perform hair-raising manoeuvres while soaring through the air on broomsticks, real-life players try to outwit their opponents astride PVC pipes.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2025

We play without talking, taking turns, trying to outwit each other.

From "Muffled" by Jennifer Gennari

Still, Peter Falk’s formidable cigar-smoking detective serves as an inspiration for Elsbeth, with her intentionally disarming wardrobe, and how she outwits the murderer-of-the-week, played by a famous guest star.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2024

He shot to fame in a popular television series “Servant of the People” in which he played an honest school teacher who is elected president and outwits crooked lawmakers and shadowy businessmen.

From Reuters ● Feb. 24, 2022

The much-loved story tells the tale of wily Mr Fox, who outwits farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean.

From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2021

Like “Figaro,” “La Scuola” is a lyrical comedy involving jealous lovers of various classes, including a countess who outwits her philandering count.

From The New Yorker ● May 27, 2019

She turned her head to look at Ash and added, “She even outwits the Fairy Queen.”

From "Ash" by Malinda Lo

The names of Bernard "Monty" Montgomery, the World War Two general who outwitted his arch rival, and former prime minister Winston Churchill are on the list.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026

For many, today's hardships only serve to highlight the absence of a leader who died a decade ago and is still seen as the wiley strategist who outwitted his American foes.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

Peter Pomerantsev’s “How to Win an Information War” tells the story of Sefton Delmer, “the propagandist who outwitted Hitler.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Ghost Army outwitted the Germans using inflatable tanks, radio trickery, costumes and impersonations.

From Seattle Times ● May 1, 2024

On the wedding day, Magistrate Tiger bragged to his son about how he had arranged the marriage and outwitted the Old Man of the Moon.

From "Where the Mountain Meets the Moon" by Grace Lin

Good news for those of us still seething over NBC’s 2012 cancellation of “Harry’s Law”: Kathy Bates is once again outwitting opposing counsel and her own colleagues in the upcoming “Matlock” from CBS.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2024

Blackburn were eager not to become a plotline in future 'Welcome to Wrexham' episodes and quickly took control of the game, outwitting their opponents with slick passing and sharp movement to create several chances.

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2024

Bletchley Park’s most famous feat was outwitting Germany’s Enigma encryption machine, which produced a constantly changing cipher and was widely considered unbreakable.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 31, 2023

He’d thought himself capable of outwitting Toni Morrison, an African American woman who’d won the Nobel Prize in Literature, in a debate about Blackness and its profound creative relevance.

From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2022

That took another two years, outwitting Wall Ghosts en route.

From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston