feint

Meanings

Plural: feints

Noun

any distracting or deceptive maneuver (as a mock attack)
A movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
Something feigned; a false or pretend appearance; a pretence or stratagem.

Verb

deceive by a mock action
- "The midfielder feinted to shoot"
To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
To direct a feint or mock attack against (someone).
To make a feint or mock attack.

Adj

Of an attack or offensive movement: directed toward a different part from the intended strike.
Feigned, counterfeit, fake.
Of lines printed on paper as a handwriting guide: not bold; faint, light; also, of such paper: ruled with faint lines of this sort.

Origin / Etymology

The noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre, from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Cognates
* Italian finta
* Occitan fencha, fenha
* Old Spanish finta (modern Spanish finta (“dummy, feint”))

Scrabble Score: 8

feint is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
feint is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
feint is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 9

feint is a valid Words With Friends word