bluff

To bluff is to pretend you have something you don't—knowledge, confidence, or strength—to influence someone else’s decisions. Think of a poker player who acts like they hold a winning hand when they don’t—that’s bluffing. It appears in everyday life, too, when someone carries off a meeting or conversation they haven’t prepared for and still sounds certain. The noun form is different: a bluff is a broad, steep bank or headland beside a river or sea.

To bluff means to deliberately create a false impression of ability, composure, or intent, usually to gain an advantage or avoid a worse outcome. In a sentence, you can hear it as, “He bluffed his way into the meeting by acting like he belonged there,” or “The company is bluffing about profits to reassure investors.”

In games of strategy, especially poker, bluffing is a core tactic: people may bet strongly on a weak hand to make others fold. That use gives rise to the phrase call someone’s bluff, which means to challenge the claim and force the person to prove it. If they can’t, the bluff is exposed.

Beyond human behavior, a bluff is a steep, broad slope or coastal bank, as in a river bluff or ocean bluff. Unlike a jagged peak, it usually has a smooth, open face.

In a separate figurative use, bluff can describe a person’s manner as blunt, direct, or refreshingly plain-spoken—perhaps rough at times, but often honest. So the same word can point either to strategic deception, a landform, or a straightforward personality, depending on context.