How to Use smoke screen in a Sentence

smoke screen

noun
Definition of smoke screennext
Synonyms for smoke screennext
  • The truth was hidden behind a smoke screen of lies.
  • His campaign promises were just a smoke screen.
  • Israel says the protests are a smoke screen for attacks on its troops.
    — Fox News, 8 Apr. 2018
  • Hit the gas too early and the Bridgestones leave behind a smoke screen.
    — David Beard, Car and Driver, 7 Feb. 2022
  • The plane laying the smoke screen and the plane filming the process also appear to be Martin MB-2s.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 Oct. 2020
  • Trump proved that shamelessness can work as a smoke screen.
    — Megan Garber, The Atlantic, 16 June 2021
  • Two of the eight vehicles were built as gadget cars to house the smoke screen, the mine dispenser and the machine guns.
    — Tony Bradley, Forbes, 8 Oct. 2021
  • Israel says the protests are a smoke screen for attacks on its troops and attempts to breach the border fence.
    — Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2018
  • Or are all the pleasantries this week just a necessary smoke screen for the public and the media?
    — Dallas News, 7 Oct. 2022
  • That is, of course, if the Lions aren't using Tagovailoa as a smoke screen.
    — Chris Sims, Indianapolis Star, 19 Feb. 2020
  • That ash can stay airborne for months, spreading a smoke screen that acts like a cataract on the night sky over thousands of miles.
    — New York Times, 13 Aug. 2021
  • The harvesting machine moves row by row at a fast clip, kicking up a smoke screen of red dust and diesel exhaust.
    — Mike Sager, Esquire, 25 Feb. 2015
  • To this group, the aloofness of science is a smoke screen behind which the inevitable emotions and ideologies hide.
    — Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2020
  • Looper, in effect, called the measure a smoke screen for equity.
    — oregonlive, 10 Oct. 2020
  • Anti-hunt activists say that the exemption is a smoke screen and that the dogs often wind up killing an actual fox.
    — Euan Ward, BostonGlobe.com, 12 Feb. 2023
  • Concern for children in this context is just a smoke screen for right-wing activists with far greater ambitions.
    — Ruth Ben-Ghiat, CNN, 14 Oct. 2021
  • Or maybe this all proves to be a smoke screen and the Dodgers ultimately go with Urías in Game 1, after all, electing to treat their apparent ace like one.
    — Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 5 Oct. 2022
  • Gun-control advocates call the strategy a clever smoke screen to avoid having to talk about gun control.
    — Washington Post, 23 May 2018
  • But where some South Africans see a powerful man held to account, and a warning for other politicians, others see a smoke screen.
    — Ryan Lenora Brown, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 June 2018
  • All of these fears that had felt so tangible in the moment were like a smoke screen, distracting me from reality.
    — Cindy Lamothe, Vogue, 12 July 2021
  • Yatom, a retired major general in the Israel Defense Forces, called the protests a smoke screen for launching attacks at Israel.
    — Oren Dorell, USA TODAY, 3 May 2018
  • Though behind his smoke screen policy makers have begun to act, the steps the Fed has taken so far, as should be clear, will hardly be enough if the inflation lasts.
    — Milton Ezrati, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Featured on lot of smoke screens and simple drag routes to get the ball into his hands in space and may need time acclimating to a more sophisticated route tree...
    — cleveland.com, 28 Apr. 2018
  • James wasn’t covering Kelce’s on his first two TDs on Sunday – a 4-yard score early in the second quarter off a smoke screen and a 32-yard catch-and-run early in the fourth quarter that exposed faulty tackling.
    — Jarrett Bell, USA TODAY, 21 Nov. 2022
  • The prosecution argued that Prince was using mental illness as a smoke screen to avoid consequences.
    — James Whitlow, baltimoresun.com, 19 Mar. 2021
  • But to be enamored with that strangeness, that perpetual smoke screen of his, means getting caught in Scratch’s most profound musical trap.
    — Washington Post, 30 Aug. 2021
  • In previous weeks, Palestinians protesters have burned flags and heaps of tires to create a thick, black smoke screen in an effort to protect themselves from Israeli snipers or to try to damage or breach the fence.
    — Iyad Abuheweila and Isabel Kershner, New York Times, 4 May 2018
  • Kurdish fighters appeared to be burning tires in multiple locations to create a smoke screen against the Turkish onslaught.
    — Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, 10 Oct. 2019
  • But given that the U.S. and Chinese trade threats are still shaking out, some analysts wondered if Daimler was using the tariffs as a smoke screen to conceal problems with its product lineup.
    — William Boston, WSJ, 21 June 2018
  • Hamas, which has been effectively running the protests, said the smoke screen was a defensive measure to protect unarmed Palestinians from being shot, as many were last Friday, the first day of the demonstrations.
    — David M. Halbfinger, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Apr. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'smoke screen.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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