as in to evade
to elude (an opponent in a sports contest) by making a deceptive or agile movement
deked the lone defenseman with a deft move of his stick and went in for the breakaway
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Recent Examples of deke
For instance, Brock Faber turned the puck over before the first goal and was deked on the second goal.
—
Michael Russo, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Two minutes later, Mayhew found some space, deked to his backhand, and beat Francis to increase the lead to three.
—Jack Murray, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Rodrigues deked Woll and snuck the puck past him for the Panthers’ third goal of the period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2026
John Wroblewski was overcome with emotion when Team USA women’s hockey star Megan Keller deked around a Canadian defender and scored the game-winning goal to bring the Americans a gold medal on Thursday.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 22 Feb. 2026
With only Canada goalie Jordan Binnington to beat, Haula deked him and buried the puck in the net.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026
In overtime, which is played 3-on-3 rather than 5-on-5, Keller took a long pass from Taylor Heise, deked past a Canadian defender and lifted a shot over the pads and under the blocker of goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens for the game-winner, setting off a wild celebration.
—Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 19 Feb. 2026
Tarasenko found the net on his team's first shot, scored off a third-period faceoff, then later deked around two defenders to set up a goal by Danila Yurov.
—CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2025
Michael Russo, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2026
Two minutes later, Mayhew found some space, deked to his backhand, and beat Francis to increase the lead to three.
—Jack Murray, Boston Herald, 6 Mar. 2026
Rodrigues deked Woll and snuck the puck past him for the Panthers’ third goal of the period.
—Adam Lichtenstein, Sun Sentinel, 27 Feb. 2026
John Wroblewski was overcome with emotion when Team USA women’s hockey star Megan Keller deked around a Canadian defender and scored the game-winning goal to bring the Americans a gold medal on Thursday.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 22 Feb. 2026
With only Canada goalie Jordan Binnington to beat, Haula deked him and buried the puck in the net.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 20 Feb. 2026
In overtime, which is played 3-on-3 rather than 5-on-5, Keller took a long pass from Taylor Heise, deked past a Canadian defender and lifted a shot over the pads and under the blocker of goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens for the game-winner, setting off a wild celebration.
—Jim Keyser, Idaho Statesman, 19 Feb. 2026
Tarasenko found the net on his team's first shot, scored off a third-period faceoff, then later deked around two defenders to set up a goal by Danila Yurov.
—CBS News, 17 Dec. 2025
With the ball in his arms and plenty of green in front of him, the sophomore sped down the KoMets’ sideline, made a move inside the Pioneer 40 to deke a final tackler and dashed across the other goal line.
—Mike Cook, Twin Cities, 7 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for deke
Verb
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Kelsy dispossessed San Diego in its defensive third, cut back to evade a defender at the edge of the penalty area, and skipped a shot inside the near post to give the Timbers (3-5-1) a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
26 Apr. 2026
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Garcia sprinted off exiting through a side entrance and evaded authorities until cops nabbed him on March 25, 2026.—
Emma Seiwell,
New York Daily News,
25 Apr. 2026
Verb
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Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge Edge rusher Anthony Smith led the Big Ten with 12 1/2 sacks last season.—
Andy Greder,
Twin Cities,
30 Apr. 2026
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During her Senate hearing, Means dodged some questions about those stances.—
Brennan Leach,
NBC news,
30 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Deke.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/deke. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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