foist

(foist)
tr.v., foist·ed, foist·ing, foists.

1. To pass off as genuine, valuable, or worthy: "I can usually tell whether a poet . . . is foisting off on us what he'd like to think is pure invention" (J.D. Salinger).
2. To impose (something or someone unwanted) upon another by coercion or trickery: They had extra work foisted on them because they couldn't say no to the boss.
3. To insert fraudulently or deceitfully: foisted unfair provisions into the contract.

[Probably Dutch dialectal vuisten, to take in hand, from Middle Dutch, from vuist, fist.]

View more Literature & Language videos

has meanings similar to fob off, but it is not followed by off and is not used in this meaning with a person as its object; you can foist something on someone but you cannot foist someone (off) with something:

I can't go around the house badgering my family about this sort of stuff, so I have to foist it on the public instead—Sunday Express, 2001.

An older use with a person or thing as object followed by in or into, meaning 'to introduce surreptitiously', is now found only rarely. It was once a favourite of scholars referring to the introduction of false readings into texts; Bulwer-Lytton wrote in 1936 of interpolations...supposed to be foisted into the Odyssey.

Previous:	fogey, fogy, focus, fob off
Next:	folio, folk, folk etymology

verb

1. To offer or put into circulation (an inferior or spurious item): fob off, palm off, pass off, put off. See honest/dishonest.
2. To force (another) to accept a burden: impose, inflict, saddle. Informal stick. See give/take/reciprocity, over/under, willing/unwilling.
3. To introduce gradually and slyly: edge, infiltrate, insinuate, wind², work, worm. See enter/exit.

For a list of words related to foist, see:

• Falsehood, Pretense, and Exaggeration - foist: (vb) assert surreptitiously, by stealth or deceit; pass off as genuine

---

See words rhyming with "foist."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Foist.

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - indsmugle, prakke på

Nederlands (Dutch)
opdringen, aansmeren, toedichten

Français (French)
v. tr. - imposer qch/qn à qn, repasser qch à qn

Deutsch (German)
v. - andrehen, einschmuggeln

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - εισάγω ή διακινώ λαθραίως ή παρανόμως, πασάρω, πλασάρω, φορτώνω

Italiano (Italian)
imporre, attribuire

Português (Portuguese)
v. - impingir

Русский (Russian)
навязать, всучить, приписать

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - colar, meter clandestinamente, atribuir, imputar, introducir, encajar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - smussla

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
偷偷插入, 硬卖给, 使混入

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 偷偷插入, 硬賣給, 使混入

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 억지로 떠 맡기다, 속여 팔다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 押し付ける, つかませる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يخدع , يزيف‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮תחב, הוליך שולל‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.