decoy

[ noun dee-koi, dih-koi; verb dih-koi ]

/ noun ˈdi kɔɪ, dɪˈkɔɪ; verb dɪˈkɔɪ /

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See synonyms for decoy on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who entices or lures another person or thing, as into danger, a trap, or the like.

anything used as a lure.

a trained bird or other animal used to entice game into a trap or within gunshot.

an artificial bird, as a painted wooden duck, used for the same purpose.

a pond into which wild fowl are lured for capture.

an object capable of reflecting radar waves, used as a spurious aircraft, missile, chaff, etc., for the deception of radar detectors.

verb (used with object)

to lure by or as if by a decoy: They decoyed the ducks to an area right in front of the blind.

verb (used without object)

to become decoyed: Ducks decoy more easily than most other waterfowl.

OTHER WORDS FOR decoy

2 enticement, bait, inducement, allurement.

See synonyms for decoy on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of decoy

1610–20; variant of coy (now dial.) <Dutch (de) kooi (the) cage, Middle Dutch cōie<Latin caveacage

OTHER WORDS FROM decoy

de·coy·er, noun

Words nearby decoy

decortication, decorum, decoupage, decouple, decoupling, decoy, decrease, decreasing, decreasing term insurance, decree, decree absolute

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use decoy in a sentence

The decoys don’t attach to cells but float in the fluid between them to catch the virus before it binds to the real ACE2 receptors.
Can you spot the fake receptor? The coronavirus can’t either.|Tatyana Woodall|August 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Batlle’s team began working on decoy proteins in January 2020 after learning about the first US case, building on knowledge gleaned from China’s 2003 SARS-CoV outbreak.
Can you spot the fake receptor? The coronavirus can’t either.|Tatyana Woodall|August 27, 2021|MIT Technology Review
Perkins angered some customers who complained that Orvis’s catalogues were suddenly filled with copper wastebaskets, silk underwear and items such as the Phona-Duck, a telephone that looked like a duck decoy.
Leigh H. Perkins, who built Orvis into an upscale sporting brand, dies at 93|Harrison Smith|May 13, 2021|Washington Post
I kind of had to be a decoy and continue to move around without the ball.
Wizards finally turn back Raptors in OT, strengthen bid for NBA’s play-in tourney|Kareem Copeland|May 7, 2021|Washington Post

Irving, a more elusive player than Harden, should have been the decoy and release valve if Durant was covered.
With Kyrie Irving back, rookie coach Steve Nash has to figure out how to get his stars aligned|Ben Golliver|January 21, 2021|Washington Post
The former decoy did as bid as Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan entered.
Gripping His Koran, Anas al-Liby Has His Day in Court|Michael Daly|October 16, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Lönnborg, who works as a lawyer in London, has on several occasions posed as Elin, acting as a decoy to throw off the paparazzi.
Elin's New Life in Sweden|Katarina Andersson|September 6, 2010|DAILY BEAST
The impudence of the authorities, to decoy an unsuspecting workingman across the State line, and then arrest him as my accomplice!
Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist|Alexander Berkman
The boy's pulses leaped toward these things even while his lips curled in disdain at the shallow decoy.
The Dragon Painter|Mary McNeil Fenollosa
You make use of your power to run a common decoy house, to do away with men for money.
The Double Four|E. Phillips Oppenheim
The decoy was barely in place before he was on the floor while a volley of lead and a flight of arrows rained against the roof.
A Virginia Scout|Hugh Pendexter
They saw nothing but the wretched decoy vanishing behind the nearest tents.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend|Charles Reade

British Dictionary definitions for decoy

decoy

noun (ˈdiːkɔɪ, dɪˈkɔɪ)

a person or thing used to beguile or lead someone into danger; lure

military something designed to deceive an enemy or divert his attention

a bird or animal, or an image of one, used to lure game into a trap or within shooting range

an enclosed space or large trap, often with a wide funnelled entrance, into which game can be lured for capture

Canadian another word for deke (def. 1)

verb (dɪˈkɔɪ)

to lure or be lured by or as if by means of a decoy

(tr) Canadian another word for deke (def. 2)

Derived forms of decoy

decoyer, noun

Word Origin for decoy

C17: probably from Dutch de kooi, literally: the cage, from Latin cavea cage

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

decoy

OTHER WORDS FOR decoy

Origin of decoy

OTHER WORDS FROM decoy

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Words related to decoy

How to use decoy in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for decoy

Derived forms of decoy

Word Origin for decoy