How to Use ruse in a Sentence

ruse

noun
  • His act was just a clever ruse to get me to go out with him.
  • Even on the boat ride, the host kept up the no-car ruse.
    — EW.com, 13 Aug. 2025
  • Who is the ‘hero,’ the person who is not in on the ruse?
    — Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2026
  • This is known as a ruse, and it’s been deemed legal by the courts.
    — San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Feb. 2022
  • Jean’s mama saw through the ruse but misread it.
    — David Wright Faladé, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Kids will quickly see through her ruses.
    — Elise Broach, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026
  • But to them, policosanols are a ruse — the goal is to patent all panela.
    — New York Times, 26 Jan. 2021
  • If all goes well, the grass will sprout before the birds figure out your ruse.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 27 Aug. 2025
  • If all goes well, the grass will sprout before the birds figure out your ruse.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 2 Apr. 2026
  • People are still in the throes of an elaborate ruse and lies.
    — Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Sep. 2024
  • Yet, what if the app is all a ruse to help candidates get elected?
    — John Brandon, Forbes, 17 Aug. 2022
  • My office was among those that were subjected to this ruse.
    — Victoria Moorwood, Cincinnati Enquirer, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Who better to carry out the ruse than a guy who can do both equally well?
    — cleveland, 14 Aug. 2020
  • The two bicker about whether or not the ruse even looks believable.
    — Patricia Hernandez, The Verge, 31 Aug. 2018
  • Officials said the ruse was two months in the planning stages.
    — New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • The ruse of spending like a big-market team didn’t even last a full season.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 30 July 2024
  • This is where the ruse becomes so obvious.
    — Jon Coupal, Oc Register, 17 Aug. 2025
  • This clever ruse thwarted the late-summer naval attack.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 15 May 2026
  • Some took day trips to nearby towns, to play out the ruse and scout other targets to raid.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 16 July 2021
  • The ruse was detected by a federal judge, who threw out the case.
    — Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 2021
  • Or maybe there was a single target and the other deaths were a ruse to cover it up.
    — Chicago Tribune, 22 Sep. 2022
  • To this day, Hveding denies that the campaign was a ruse.
    — Shayla Love, The Atlantic, 21 Dec. 2025
  • Michael puts in a good effort with the ruse, but Brittany is an awful liar.
    — Kyle Fowle, EW.com, 11 July 2022
  • The ruse of school choice left Aja’s mother with few options for her daughter.
    — TIME, 13 Oct. 2023
  • The view from here is that the landscape restoration plan is a ruse to get rid of a building that should be saved.
    — Blair Kamin, chicagotribune.com, 13 July 2018
  • Holland wouldn't also play a ruse around a Maguire and Garfield cameo, right?
    — Nick Romano, EW.com, 24 Feb. 2021
  • The man who had sold Fuzzell the fentanyl, Cole Salazar, fell for the ruse.
    — Erin Patrick O'Connor, Washington Post, 12 Dec. 2022
  • But her alleged ruse failed, and the 29-year-old was arrested.
    — Clara Harter, Los Angeles Times, 27 Dec. 2024
  • In reality, the town was just a name on a map and the fertiliser plant was a ruse.
    — The Economist, 8 Dec. 2020
  • How could Russ possibly sustain this ruse?
    — Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 29 Sep. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ruse.' 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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