smoke screen

noun

Definition of smoke screennext
as in front

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of smoke screen And, while the smoke screen of the war is going on, China is ramping up their activities. — Morgan Chittum,matthew J. Belvedere, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2026 Their smoke screens covered many square miles and needed fewer people to operate them. — Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2026 The exposure of political smoke screens The uprising also exposed manufactured alternatives. — Kazem Kazerounian, Hartford Courant, 18 Jan. 2026 Another thing worth noting is that there are plenty of smoke screens that emerge from the winter meetings. — Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025 See All Example Sentences for smoke screen
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smoke screen
  1. front
  2. blind
  3. swindle
  4. hoax
  5. fraud
  6. duplicity
  7. chicanery
  8. end run
Noun
  • The van, with its battered front resting against a tree, could still be seen at the scene Sunday morning.
    — Geir Moulson, Chicago Tribune, 26 July 2026
  • The officials said both sides in Yemen’s civil war were mobilizing forces along the front.
    — Freddie Clayton, NBC news, 26 July 2026
Definition of front
Noun
  • In some position groups — receiver, tight end, edge rushers, cornerback and safeties to be specific — the blind is leading the blind because there is no veteran presence in those rooms.
    — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 29 May 2026
  • The large slats of shutters might be easier to vacuum than those of mini blinds or even cellular shades, so make a plan based on your window blind type and style.
    — Patricia Shannon, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 Apr. 2026
Definition of blind
Noun
  • In a case pending in federal court in Oakland, California, three Facebook users allege that the company profits from online swindles at the expense of users.
    — David Ingram, NBC news, 12 May 2026
  • Supporting characters add to the plot, as Chance needs help from his former crew, most of whom have gone straight but can’t resist the lure of the swindle.
    — Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 28 Apr. 2026
Definition of swindle
Noun
  • Jones spent years claiming the shooting was a hoax, and that the families were lying about their dead children.
    — Joseph Konig, PEOPLE, 16 July 2026
  • Without telling the rest of his staff about the hoax, Pissenem sent the clip to the island’s tourism accounts.
    — Max Marshall, Vanity Fair, 15 July 2026
Definition of hoax
Noun
  • Both laid into the Walz administration for the fraud scandals.
    — Esme Murphy, CBS News, 1 Aug. 2026
  • One fraud ring tracked by Socure executed 38,241 transactions across 465 organizations in 30 industries within a single 90-day window.
    — Ray Fernandez, Forbes.com, 31 July 2026
Definition of fraud
Noun
  • This latest act of duplicity is a new low, even for the HFPA.
    — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 28 July 2026
  • The detective-heroines (and especially the actress-detectives) in this canon are careful about how performance might be extended to social duplicity, dishonesty, and fraud—but the lady criminals of Victorian detective fiction cross this line easily.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 July 2026
Definition of duplicity
Noun
  • But both parties increasingly justify the chicanery, because the stakes of winning elections and keeping power are simply too high.
    — S.E. Cupp, New York Daily News, 8 July 2026
  • There’s a tremendous amount of financial chicanery that goes on in 2026.
    — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 11 June 2026
Definition of chicanery
Noun
  • Now the federal government has launched a voucher program by making an end run around state legislatures.
    — Peter Greene, Forbes.com, 22 July 2026
  • Castaneda, Marshall writes, made an end run around the department’s Yaqui expert, with the other committee members overly impressed by his au courant melange of fieldwork and gauzy ruminations, despite the fact that his timelines and grasp of mycology didn’t make sense.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2026
Definition of end run

Browse Nearby Words

smokes
smoke screen
smoke screens
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Cite this Entry

“Smoke screen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smoke%20screen. Accessed 1 Aug. 2026.

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