bluff

¹ American  

[bluhf] / blʌf /

adjective

bluffer, bluffest

1. good-naturedly direct, blunt, or frank; heartily outspoken.

   a big, bluff, generous man.

   Synonyms:

   straightforward, plain-spoken, honest, open, forthright, direct, blunt

   Antonyms:

   roundabout, indirect, circuitous

2. presenting a bold and nearly perpendicular front, as a coastline.

   a bluff, precipitous headland.

   Synonyms:

   steep, abrupt

3. Nautical. (of the bow of a vessel) having a full, blunt form.

---

noun

1. a cliff, headland, or hill with a broad, steep face.

2. North Dakota, Wisconsin, and the Canadian Prairie Provinces. a clump or grove of trees on a prairie or other generally treeless area.

bluff ² American  

[bluhf] / blʌf /

verb (used with object)

• bluffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bluffed,
  past participle,  past
• bluffing
  present participle

1. to mislead by a display of knowledge, self-confidence, or boldness.

   He bluffed me into believing that he was a doctor.

   Synonyms:

   trick, mislead, hoodwink, delude, dupe, fool, deceive

2. to gain by a misleading display of knowledge, self-confidence, or boldness.

   He bluffed his way into the job.

3. Poker, Bridge. to deceive (an opponent) by a show of confidence in the strength of one's cards.

---

verb (used without object)

• bluffs,
  present (3rd person singular)
• bluffed,
  past participle,  past
• bluffing
  present participle

1. to mislead someone by presenting a bold, strong, or self-confident front.

   They threatened to sue, but they were only bluffing.

2. Poker, Bridge. to deceive an opponent by a show of confidence in the strength of one's cards.

noun

1. an act or instance or the practice of misleading by presenting a bold, strong, or self-confident front.

   Her story was all a bluff to get money from us.

   His assertive manner is mostly bluff.

2. a person who misleads by presenting knowledge, self-confidence, or boldness; bluffer.

   That big bluff doesn't have a nickel to his name.

idioms

1. call someone's bluff, to expose a person's deception, or challenge someone to carry out a threat.

   He always said he would quit, so we finally called his bluff.

2. bluff with rags, to display confidence in the strength of one's hand when that hand is weak, as a way to win by making an opponent withdraw from play.

bluff ¹ British  

/ blʌf /

noun

1. a steep promontory, bank, or cliff, esp one formed by river erosion on the outside bend of a meander

2. a clump of trees on the prairie; copse

---

adjective

1. good-naturedly frank and hearty

2. (of a bank, cliff, etc) presenting a steep broad face

bluff ² British  

/ blʌf /

verb

1. to pretend to be confident about an uncertain issue or to have undisclosed resources, in order to influence or deter (someone)

---

noun

1. deliberate deception intended to create the impression of a stronger position or greater resources than one actually has

2. to challenge someone to give proof of his claims

bluff More Idioms  

1. see call someone's bluff.

---

Usage

What does bluff mean? Bluff describes someone or something that is blunt or frank in a good-natured way. Someone who talks in a bluff manner says things directly but not hurtfully. A bluff is a cliff or hill with a tall face on one side. Bluffs often border a river or ocean because they get their shape from erosion caused by the natural flow of water. To bluff is to mislead by showing strength or confidence. People bluff to make themselves seem more powerful, larger, or of more authority than those being bluffed. A bluff is an act of bluffing. Example: The cabin was built along the bluff, but erosion is making it sink down the hill.

Synonym Usage

See blunt.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• bluffer
  noun
• bluffness
  noun
• bluffable
  adjective
• unbluffable
  adjective
• unbluffed
  adjective
• bluffly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• bluffing
  present
• bluffed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• bluff
  simple
• bluffs
  simple
• have bluffed
  perfect
• has bluffed
  perfect
• am bluffing
  progressive
• are bluffing
  progressive
• is bluffing
  progressive
• have been bluffing
  perfect progressive
• has been bluffing
  perfect progressive

Past

• bluffed
  simple
• had bluffed
  perfect
• was bluffing
  progressive
• were bluffing
  progressive
• had been bluffing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will bluff
  simple
• will have bluffed
  perfect
• will be bluffing
  progressive
• will have been bluffing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of bluff¹

First recorded in 1620–30; origin uncertain; perhaps from Middle Low German blaff “smooth, even,” or from Middle Dutch blaf “broad, flat,” i.e., of a face or forehead

Origin of bluff²

First recorded in 1665–75; origin uncertain; perhaps from Low German bluffen “to bluster, frighten”; akin to Middle Dutch bluffen “to make a trick at cards”

Explanation

Bluff can mean a high cliff, or it can describe a person who is abrupt in manner. The most common usage of bluff is as a verb meaning to pretend. If you bluff at cards, you are pretending to have a better hand than you do. Many a good crime story ends with a bluff—"I've already contacted the police and they're on their way," the detective will say when that is not at all the case. The expression "calling your bluff" comes from poker, where you "call" a game to see someone's actual cards. Calling someone's bluff means forcing them to admit the truth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bluff bluffer bluffest bluffs bluffed bluffing

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

The roughly 1.16-acre property in Point Dume has nine bedrooms, a 20-vehicle garage and about 176 feet of bluff frontage.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

On a chilly spring night, Caligiuri, wearing a hooded Adidas jacket and black sweatpants, stands in the center of a small soccer field on a bluff in Mission Viejo.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026

At least the trees that crowded up to the top of the bluff spread above them, proud and growing.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Separately, it emerged at an ongoing inquiry that Mr Williams had described a campaigner who tried to draw attention to faults in Horizon software in 2015 as a "bluffer".

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

When the Dutch build vessels of a larger size than this, they do so on very similar lines to English merchantmen, though usually somewhat broader and bluffer.

From Man on the Ocean A Book about Boats and Ships by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne

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

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

In his bluffest and heartiest way Blake refused to hear of such a thing.

From Love Eternal by Henry Rider Haggard

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

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

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

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

A short walk away is Legacy Park, an oasis of coastal prairies, bluffs and native woodlands.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2025

If we can get across the creek we could go up on the bluffs there and watch the road.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

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

With Green stepping back to flay an expected short ball, he was bluffed by a Carse yorker that splattered the stumps.

From BBC ● Dec. 5, 2025

He bluffed, saying he had no debit card.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025

Mr. Spiegel had essentially bluffed his way into the cockpit as a skinny teenager from Greenwich Village, trusting he’d figure it out as he went.

From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2021

I knew I should never get away from the bully unless I bluffed.

From "Black Like Me" by John Howard Griffin

“I think he was bluffing me, and he was trying to get me to agree.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026

Those who remain alive might well be bluffing, projecting resolve even if they would privately prefer to sue for peace.

From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2026

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

"We aren't bluffing or joking - we don't have a purpose media wise we are only for money and money only and one of our main managers wanted me to reach out to you."

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2025

I started easing my hand down into my pocket, to try bluffing . . . and one of them snatched open the door.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

Related Words

• cliff
• crag
• hill
• promontory
• ridge