foist

American  

[foist] / fɔɪst /

verb (used with object)

foists, present (3rd person singular) foisted, past participle, past foisting present participle

1. to force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably (usually followed by on orupon ).

   to foist inferior merchandise on a customer.

2. to bring, put, or introduce surreptitiously or fraudulently (usually followed by in orinto ).

   to foist political views into a news story.

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foist British  

/ fɔɪst /

verb

1. to sell or pass off (something, esp an inferior article) as genuine, valuable, etc

2. to insert surreptitiously or wrongfully

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unfoisted
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• foisting
  present
• foisted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• foist
  simple
• foists
  simple
• have foisted
  perfect
• has foisted
  perfect
• am foisting
  progressive
• are foisting
  progressive
• is foisting
  progressive
• have been foisting
  perfect progressive
• has been foisting
  perfect progressive

Past

• foisted
  simple
• had foisted
  perfect
• was foisting
  progressive
• were foisting
  progressive
• had been foisting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will foist
  simple
• will have foisted
  perfect
• will be foisting
  progressive
• will have been foisting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of foist

1535–45; < Dutch dialect vuisten, derivative of vuist fist ¹

Explanation

Did your parents foist your baby sister on you when they went out? It means they forced her on you. Anything — a person or object or idea — can be foisted if it's done by force upon an unwilling party. Foist used to imply a degree of deception rather than just brute force, but that's a meaning that's pretty much lost now: if something's foisted upon you, you know about it. The earlier meaning comes from an old Dutch term for palming a loaded die into a game. Today we call that cheating.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

foist foists foisted foisting

Instead, lenders and credit firms can foist the costs onto taxpayers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026

Second, Marc Rowan, VCs like Peter Thiel, and hedge fund managers like Bill Ackman and Leon Cooperman have been sharply critical of these schools as they work to foist changes in leadership and curriculum.

From Barron's ● Dec. 5, 2025

His ego is so big and so fragile that he forced the Twitter staff to rewrite the algorithm to foist his non-entertaining tweets into people's feeds.

From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2023

In the estimate of Bloomberg financial columnist Matt Levine, the goal is indistinguishable from encouraging them to find “some retail rubes” to foist the shares on.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 14, 2021

The waiter tried to foist Toucinho do Ceu and Mousse de Chocolate on them, but Dimple declined for the both of them.

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

Perhaps the Fed’s greatest political liability is its loquacity—the policy statements, economic projections, speeches, press conferences, meeting minutes and the rest that the central bank foists on the public.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

“Rising Phoenix” is bursting with a glossy visual style courtesy of director of photography Will Pugh, casting the athletes as gods whose speed, strength and finesse shatter preconceptions the world sometimes foists upon them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2020

Lyle Lanley, voiced by Phil Hartman, is the perfect con-man for Springfield, as he foists on them the disastrous and unnecessary monorail, playing on their desire for oneupmanship over neighbouring Shelbyville.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 28, 2019

But the terrible choice the dramatist foists on the mother feels heavy-handed, and that she gets only one chance to explain herself lends to a sense of a character being underserved.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2019

Rather, it foists itself on the eye of the passerby in a manner that is both irritating and melancholy.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

For decades, outsiders have foisted their foreign music upon us at the Super Bowl between commercials for Doritos and Budweiser.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026

This is a title they have foisted upon themselves.

From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2025

That a tied-for-10th finish felt like a massive disappointment says plenty about the expectations being foisted on a player already up to 80th in the world.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 23, 2023

Every mistake made was magnified, every failure of the team foisted upon him, and the drum beat for coach Eli Drinkwitz to turn to highly touted recruit Sam Horn grew.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 17, 2023

“I’m sorry I’m late! Once Abuelita begins talking, she doesn’t stop. And then she foisted all of this food on me; I don’t even know where I’m going to store it...”

From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon

But in doing so, the corporations should take responsibility for additional costs, rather than unilaterally foisting them on poorly paid workers.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2024

Others warn that foisting another unelected leader on the country might backfire.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 15, 2024

But it was in his novel “Next Season,” which I’m always foisting on theater friends, that Blakemore managed to capture the evanescent world of the stage in all its heartbreak and glory.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2023

Prior to foisting this mental damage onto a fictional character, Brodesser-Akner's experience delivering her first son was similar to that of her character's.

From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2023

After a breakfast of fatback and grits with lots of butter—Cook foisting a second helping onto Ophie despite her protests—Ophie was sent to take Mrs. Caruthers her morning tray.

From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland