How to Use smoke screen in a Sentence

smoke screen

noun
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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
  • Or are all the pleasantries this week just a necessary smoke screen for the public and the media?
    — Dallas News, 7 Oct. 2022
  • 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
  • Looper, in effect, called the measure a smoke screen for equity.
    — oregonlive, 10 Oct. 2020
  • 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
  • Another thing worth noting is that there are plenty of smoke screens that emerge from the winter meetings.
    — Aaliyan Mohammed, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Their smoke screens covered many square miles and needed fewer people to operate them.
    — Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 13 Mar. 2026
  • 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
  • That is, of course, if the Lions aren't using Tagovailoa as a smoke screen.
    — Chris Sims, Indianapolis Star, 19 Feb. 2020
  • Set the smoke screens differently depending on the wind.
    — Carolyn Forché, New Yorker, 3 Nov. 2025
  • 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
  • And while the smoke screen of the war is going on, China is ramping up their activities.
    — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 12 Mar. 2026
  • Gun-control advocates call the strategy a clever smoke screen to avoid having to talk about gun control.
    — Washington Post, 23 May 2018
  • And, while the smoke screen of the war is going on, China is ramping up their activities.
    — Morgan Chittum,matthew J. Belvedere, CNBC, 14 Mar. 2026
  • 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
  • At the rear, the DB5’s twin exhaust pipes have been repurposed as an outlet for the smoke screen.
    — Tim Pitt, Robb Report, 20 June 2023
  • 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
  • Former leaders who backed the theater project reject the charge as a baseless smoke screen for the new regime’s governance problems.
    — Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Sep. 2023
  • 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
  • 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
  • The prosecution argued that Prince was using mental illness as a smoke screen to avoid consequences.
    — James Whitlow, baltimoresun.com, 19 Mar. 2021
  • The smoke screen is likely made from titanium tetrachloride, a corrosive liquid that reacts with air moisture.
    — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 5 Oct. 2020
  • 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
  • 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
  • The kink community thinks Schneiderman is using role-play as a smoke screen for abuse, subverting its own struggle for acceptance.
    — New York Times, 23 May 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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