foist

[foist]

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verb (used with object)

to force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably (usually followed by on or upon): to foist inferior merchandise on a customer.

to bring, put, or introduce surreptitiously or fraudulently (usually followed by in or into): to foist political views into a news story.

Origin of foist

1535–45; < Dutch dialect vuisten, derivative of vuist fist¹

Related formsun·foist·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for foisted

impose

Examples from the Web for foisted

Contemporary Examples of foisted

The oft-quoted figure of six million dead, he maintains, was but a myth, foisted on the world by the singularly demonic Zionists.
Abbas Alleges Link Between Zionists And Nazis
David N. Myers
January 23, 2013
In 2008, he foisted Sarah Palin upon an unsuspecting nation.
Michael Tomasky on How John McCain Humiliated Himself on Susan Rice
Michael Tomasky
November 25, 2012

Historical Examples of foisted

They are not to be foisted on one's readers as anything "ex cathedra."
Visions and Revisions
John Cowper Powys
It was also, he said, the duty of the Council to buy a barometer the rogue had foisted upon him.
Ghetto Comedies
Israel Zangwill
It was foisted upon that which had already a venerable antiquity.
The Astronomy of the Bible
E. Walter Maunder
Manfred, what kind of a crazed camel have you foisted off on me?
The Saracen: Land of the Infidel
Robert Shea
I have a strong fatherly instinct and all the foundlings are foisted on me.
Roughing It
Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)

British Dictionary definitions for foisted

foist

verb (tr)

(often foll by off or on) to sell or pass off (something, esp an inferior article) as genuine, valuable, etc

(usually foll by in or into) to insert surreptitiously or wrongfully

Word Origin for foist

C16: probably from obsolete Dutch vuisten to enclose in one's hand, from Middle Dutch vuist fist

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

Word Origin and History for foisted

foist

1540s, from Dutch vuisten "take in hand," from Middle Dutch vuist "fist" (see fist). Earliest sense was cheating at dice by concealing a loaded one in the palm of the hand with the intention of introducing it into play; meaning "introduce surreptitiously" is from 1560s. Related: Foisted; foisting.