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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The bluff and businesslike Agrippa, not prone to exaggeration, deems it “the day on which the fate of the world would be decided.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Some interpreted the move as the market calling the Federal Reserve’s bluff.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 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
Perched on a bluff near the Gulf of Mexico, Clearwater entices millions each year with its sugary-white beach and turquoise waters.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
She led them down the steep bluff, clutching the bag with leftover food and the map in it.
From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt
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
I thought Bill wasn't dead: you're just a bluffer, ain't you, Bill?
From The Great Gold Rush A Tale of the Klondike by W. H. P. (William Henry Pope) Jarvis
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
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
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
In his bluffest and heartiest way Blake refused to hear of such a thing.
From Love Eternal by Henry Rider Haggard
Mendocino, dominated by Victorian and New England-style saltbox houses, is built on bluffs overlooking the Pacific and surrounded by dramatic coast and forest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026
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
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
But she made a beeline back to the coast, settling in the craggy bluffs outside desirable Topanga.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
It did seem to be coming from the bluffs, which meant that if it was a flame, it was a big one.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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
He bluffed, saying he had no debit card.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
He had a talent for making people laugh, a skill he honed one summer as a Catskills resort social director, and bluffed his way into a prestigious theater training program in Manhattan, the Neighborhood Playhouse.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 7, 2022
Graham Paddison, of David Duggleby Auctioneers in Scarborough who are selling the lot, said that Mr Hill "bluffed" his way into the room where the Beatles were talking to the press.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2022
Okay, she often bluffed and implied all sorts of things I knew weren’t true.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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
Armed only with a lamp, he managed to scare off the men by bluffing that he had a gun, causing them to flee the scene empty-handed.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2026
Beneath all the bluffing lies a determination of credibility.
From Slate ● Nov. 20, 2025
“It’s like a kind of global entry, but with a different possibility, considering that a lot of the time I’m not exactly bluffing it, but I’m trying my best to make this work.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
“Rowdy,” I said, in a croaking voice, “don’t jump on that monkey. I don’t think he means to harm us. I think he’s bluffing, or at least I hope he is.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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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