foist
Americanverb (used with object)
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to force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably (usually followed by on orupon ).
to foist inferior merchandise on a customer.
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to bring, put, or introduce surreptitiously or fraudulently (usually followed by in orinto ).
to foist political views into a news story.
verb
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to sell or pass off (something, esp an inferior article) as genuine, valuable, etc
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to insert surreptitiously or wrongfully
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has foistedperfect 3rd person singular
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have foistedperfect
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are foistingprogressive
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is foistingprogressive 3rd person singular
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foistingparticiple
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have been foistingperfect progressive
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has been foistingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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foistssingular 3rd person
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am foistingprogressive 1st person singular
Past
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had foistedperfect
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was foistingprogressive singular
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had been foistingperfect progressive
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foistedsimple
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foistedparticiple
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were foistingprogressive plural
Future
Etymology
Origin of foist
1535–45; < Dutch dialect vuisten, derivative of vuist fist 1
Explanation
Did your parents foist your baby sister on you when they went out? It means they forced her on you. Anything — a person or object or idea — can be foisted if it's done by force upon an unwilling party. Foist used to imply a degree of deception rather than just brute force, but that's a meaning that's pretty much lost now: if something's foisted upon you, you know about it. The earlier meaning comes from an old Dutch term for palming a loaded die into a game. Today we call that cheating.
Vocabulary lists containing foist
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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The Bluest Eye
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Henry David Thoreau "Civil Disobedience" (1849)
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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.
The hours of the morning passed like minutes to the girls, and they were surprised when the porter came through with his "Foist call fo' dinnah!"
From The Outdoor Girls in the Saddle Or, The Girl Miner of Gold Run by Hope, Laura Lee
"Foist it upon somebody else then," she answered quickly.
From The Clammer and the Submarine by Hopkins, William John
Foist is also a term for a sharper; and gallifoist was intended to be pronounced here gullifoist.
From A Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 2 by Bullen, A. H. (Arthur Henry)
For the Larch disease he should consult Hartig, Unters. aus der Foist.
From Disease in Plants by Ward, H. Marshall
How do you like this my Lord Prince, these are mad boys, I tell you, these are things that will not strike their top-sayles to a Foist.
From Philaster Love Lies a Bleeding by Fletcher, John
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
