feint
Americannoun
-
feints
plural
-
a movement made in order to deceive an adversary; an attack aimed at one place or point merely as a distraction from the real place or point of attack.
military feints; the feints of a skilled fencer.
-
a feigned or assumed appearance.
His air of approval was a feint to conceal his real motives.
verb (used without object)
-
feints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
feinted,
past participle, past
-
feinting
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
feints,
present (3rd person singular)
-
feinted,
past participle, past
-
feinting
present participle
-
to make a feint at; deceive with a feint.
-
to make a false show of; simulate.
noun
-
a mock attack or movement designed to distract an adversary, as in a military manoeuvre or in boxing, fencing, etc
-
a misleading action or appearance
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
feintsimple
-
feintssimple
-
have feintedperfect
-
has feintedperfect
-
am feintingprogressive
-
are feintingprogressive
-
is feintingprogressive
-
have been feintingperfect progressive
-
has been feintingperfect progressive
Past
-
feintedsimple
-
had feintedperfect
-
was feintingprogressive
-
were feintingprogressive
-
had been feintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of feint
First recorded in 1670–80; from French feinte, from Old French feinte “fabrication,” noun use of feminine of feint “pretended,” past participle of feindre; see origin at feign
Explanation
Did you ever tell your parents you were going off to school, grabbed your book bag, and headed out the door...only to spend the rest of the day hanging out with your friends? Well, that was a feint, a super sneaky move designed to fool someone. Although military and political tactics are big on feints, their most common use is probably in sports — particularly boxing, where opponents are continually trying to fake each other out. As in Dundee's account of an Ali-Frazier match: "Ali feinted with a jab, and Frazier threw one of his own, missing." Not to be confused with faint, meaning "weak or feeble." However, a feint can be deliberately faint, as Ali knew and Frazier found out when the real right hook made contact.
Vocabulary lists containing feint
The Lightning Thief
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Commonly Confused Words, List 1
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The Hobbit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The name is a feint: There’s nothing goth about his chipper electronic pop, which often feels tailor-made for DJ sets in exotic locations, a crowd swaying as the sun sinks in the background.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
The White House didn’t plan to disclose the feint, officials said, until the Washington Post revealed it and sparked a media frenzy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The Danish director of “Drive” hasn’t made a feature film since “Neon Demon” premiered at Cannes in 2016 and this grim fairy tale feels more like a feint than a comeback.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
Perhaps this is a feint in some grand art of the deal.
From Salon ● Feb. 26, 2025
I feint right, and just as I was expecting, he takes the bait, following my body.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
War is filled with flopping, feints and trickery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Kvaratskhelia's feints cause Stanisic to step up, rendering him unable to track the run in behind.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
It was the culmination of a series of feints and bluffs in the preceding hours and days as the former reality TV star kept the world guessing.
From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026
It is the most delicate of dances, rife with subtle signals, attacks and feints, and deniable action.
From New York Times ● Jan. 14, 2024
The stride length, the quickness of the foot feints, all clearly revealed to his unfailing eye, made him reassess his second conclusion.
From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman
Kvaratskhelia feinted to run in behind, then dropped short, then looked to run in behind, dropped short again before eventually running in behind.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Elmas feinted past Mamadou Coulibaly on the left side of the area before curling into the far bottom corner.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 4, 2023
Juventus turned the match around completely two minutes later when Vlahović ran onto a through-ball and into the area and feinted his way past Inter defender Danilo D’Ambrosio.
From Seattle Times ● May 11, 2022
Lang hammered his entrance like the first hard few drops of an incoming storm and just as quickly feinted into an airy, gentle touch, from the ground to the clouds in an instant.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 19, 2021
He seemed to know what she intended before she did, and when she lunged at his head, the great paw swept the stick aside harmlessly, and when she feinted, he didn’t move at all.
From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman
The fight started with the Briton pushing forward, as he would throughout the following 25 minutes, feinting and landing leg kicks, while chants of "Colby, Colby" rung out around the arena.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2023
Bud snaked his way inside, feinting in the middle distance and eating some shots on the way in — but nothing that rattled him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2023
They envision themselves bobbing and weaving, triangulating and feinting — filling the air with meaningless cliches so that no one knows where they stand and no one can hold them accountable.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2023
Harrison hitches his bespoke wagon to that star, and the resulting scandal shows how deftly Korelitz moves as a satirist, feinting in one direction and then delivering a knockout blow in the other.
From Washington Post ● May 31, 2022
Bull set him down and they pretended to box each other, weaving and feinting with exaggerated aggressiveness, cuffing each other on the head and punching each other on the shoulders.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
