fob off

verb

1. to appease or trick (a person) with lies or excuses

2. to dispose of (goods) by trickery

Idioms and Phrases

Sell or dispose of goods by fraud or deception, as in They tried to fob off the zircon as a diamond . [c. 1600]

Put off or appease by deceitful means, as in We needed her help but were fobbed off by promises . [c. 1600]

Example Sentences

"I was absolutely gutted and every phone call I made to the Bournemouth office, I got fobbed off."

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Ms Mannings reflected on how people often ask "are you OK?" - but it's a vague question, easy to "fob off".

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Herzog rejects the notion that propaganda of the kind that the former Soviet Union’s media outlets fobbed off as the truth is much different from the way liberal democracies present and digest the news now.

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"Too much of my job really is taken up advising victims who feel fobbed off by the police when they report coercive control," she said.

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He added the number of parties involved could be "depressing for a shared owner; that feeling of being passed from pillar to post and being fobbed off at different parts of the process".

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