bluffing
the act of misleading someone by a display of strength, self-confidence, or the like: While the bluffing goes on at the negotiating table, the public, the striking workers, and the employer all lose.
Poker, Bridge. the act of deceiving an opponent by a show of confidence in the strength of one’s cards: The digital version of the game falls short, because the bluffing needs that eye-to-eye contact, the smug and knowing smiles.
deceiving or misleading someone by a display of strength or confidence: Determining whether one faces a serious or bluffing adversary constitutes a major challenge in the bargaining process.“Advertising budget” is a poker term for the amount of chips a bluffing player is willing to invest to deceive opponents.
Origin of bluffing
1Other words from bluffing
- un·bluff·ing, adjective
Words Nearby bluffing
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use bluffing in a sentence
Bluff erosion — even catastrophic bluff collapse — is a natural process that has been occurring in San Diego for thousands of years.
Seawalls Are Not the Answer to Coastal Bluff Erosion | Laura Walsh | January 11, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoRecent bluff collapses in San Diego have sparked conversations about public safety on beaches.
Seawalls Are Not the Answer to Coastal Bluff Erosion | Laura Walsh | January 11, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoThe genesis for the bill was the tragic August 2019 bluff collapse in Encinitas that took the lives of three people.
Bill Aimed at Preventing Future Bluff Collapses Isn’t All About Seawalls | Patricia Bates | January 4, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoMore people could die from bluff collapses if nothing is done.
Bill Aimed at Preventing Future Bluff Collapses Isn’t All About Seawalls | Patricia Bates | January 4, 2021 | Voice of San DiegoThat same year, another bluff collapse in Del Mar destabilized a set of train tracks regularly carrying passengers between Los Angeles and San Diego.
San Diego Scientist Gets Closer to Understanding Why the Coast Collapses | MacKenzie Elmer | December 28, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
Nor would the dangers end there even if Obama were not bluffing; Putin might think he was bluffing anyway and start a war.
Obama Must Show He’ll Use Military Means to Deter Russia in Ukraine | Leslie H. Gelb | March 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs menacing as those automatic rifles were, I felt the Somalis were bluffing.
‘You Have 30 Seconds’: The Real Captain Phillips’s Gripping Memoir | Captain Richard Phillips, Stephan Talty | October 11, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTEven a bluffing superpower can be forced to ante up ... or perhaps fold as casualties mount and treasury accounts go bust.
War Is the New Peace: American Vets Reflect on Syria | John Kael Weston | September 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTIt may sound absurd at first flush, but politics and poker have a lot more than just bluffing in common.
What Politicians Can Learn at the World Series of Poker | Jonathan Miller | July 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTJonathan Chait thinks Speaker Boehner is bluffing on allowing the sequestration to take place.
They got somebody, or else they were only bluffing when they waved that scalp.
Warrior Gap | Charles KingMike grinned, remembering the time he had driven a robot brain daffy by bluffing it at poker.
Unwise Child | Gordon Randall GarrettHe uttered a low laugh of contempt which showed plainer than words that he thought Curlie was bluffing.
On the Yukon Trail | Roy J. SnellMrs. Spencer might be, probably was, bluffing but he did not propose to be the one to call it; the result was quite too uncertain.
The Cab of the Sleeping Horse | John Reed ScottShe began to laugh at my bluffing words, and ended with a nervous sob.
The Memoirs of an American Citizen | Robert Herrick
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