Synonyms

smoke and mirrors

American

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb) something that distorts or blurs facts, figures, etc., like a magic or conjuring trick; artful deception.

smoke and mirrors British

noun

irrelevant or misleading information serving to obscure the truth of a situation

"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

Etymology

Origin of smoke and mirrors

First recorded in 1980–85

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:

smoke and mirrors

“To me, he’s the hero of that movie, not the villain, because he was trying to take something that was always smoke and mirrors and turn it into something magical and real,” he says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

"There is a lot of smoke and mirrors," one said.

From BBC ● Mar. 27, 2026

It’s all smoke and mirrors, sure, but there’s a certain comfort in a life after death where Patrick Swayze can still spin pottery!

From Salon ● Nov. 27, 2025

"Neuralink is currently just smoke and mirrors, with a lot of hype," Herve Chneiweiss, a neurologist and expert in ethics at France's research organisation INSERM, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Nov. 12, 2025

But maybe being able to say “I love you” was just smoke and mirrors compared to having a living being under your fingers.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023