decoy

In 2026 we are seeing something different: the slop of war, in which decoy diplomacy combines with military head-fakes to obscure the actual state of play.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026

He also acts as a decoy - drawing players away from the winger, by holding his central position, or by making a late overlapping run.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

Nicknamed "the Bone", the aircraft has advanced radar and GPS systems to help hit targets, and electronic jammers, radar warnings and a decoy system to protect it from enemies.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026

I’ve always thought the latter has long served as a decoy: No matter how deplorable Homer Simpson might be, Peter Griffin will be worse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

The prisoner took several days to craft a version of herself to leave behind as a decoy.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

But no country has pushed the balloon frontier further than Ukraine, which is using them to execute audacious strikes deep inside Russia, as well as for reconnaissance and transportation, and as decoys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026

The venues are like decoys, real estate ventures that would find a way no matter the acts or genre, it turns out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 28, 2026

But there is no evidence that AI can help solve the problem of blocking hundreds of fast-flying warheads embedded in a cloud of decoys.

From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025

Defense Department has placed significantly fewer orders for Alloy Surfaces’ pyrophoric airborne decoys, which the company manufactures in Philadelphia and are used as protection against heat-seeking missiles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2025

Crazy Horse let them get close, and then the decoys galloped away, as if trying to escape.

From "In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse" by Joseph Marshall III

I sent him on a long scavenger hunt, then decoyed him in for a backhand drop and flicked it crosscourt into open space.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 18, 2016

But then: "The tempter came, like the serpent of Eden, and decoyed them with the majic word of 'freedom.'"

From Time ● Apr. 7, 2011

Good guess: Natskakula had been decoyed back into the Western zone, then grabbed by Army intelligence operatives.

From Time Magazine Archive

Cost of equipment and wages has gone up; motor cars have decoyed passengers and, by crowding thoroughfares, have increased cost of running cars.

From Time Magazine Archive

We are led astray a thousand times by false analogies, we are decoyed into the labyrinths of fancy, we become the victims of impression, the toys of circumstance.

From Creed And Deed A Series of Discourses by Adler, Felix

Duplicitous collectors have created a thriving ecosystem of stockpiling, hiding, and decoying that makes it well-nigh impossible to find a scooter in need of charging.

From Slate ● May 22, 2018

And more recently, at Thanksgiving, after I made a queen-high straight on the turn and raked in all the remaining chips, the wind wound up wrong for decoying geese at our favorite blind.

From Time Magazine Archive

This is especially true when you're rattling, calling, or decoying big game.

From Time Magazine Archive

Instead, he concentrates on controlling the boards, decoying enemy defenders, setting up teammates for open shots.

From Time Magazine Archive

Her gentle efforts to guide the hand of destiny, by decoying her master with fertile tricks or by reticent considerations these had not bean strong enough to be recognized in the despotism of fife.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White