decoy
UK/ˈdiːkɔɪ/
decoy noun: a person or object meant to lure somebody into danger.
Noun
decoy (plural decoys)
- A person or object meant to lure somebody into danger.
- A real or fake animal used by hunters to lure game.
- Deceptive military device used to draw enemy attention or fire away from a more important target.
- Just every 5 seconds or so shoot out a decoy near the Cats Eye and the enemies will aim for that instead of the Cats Eye.2002, Robotech: Battlecry – Guide and Walkthrough
- An assembly of hooped or netted corridors into which wild ducks may be enticed (originally by tame ducks) and trapped.
Verb
decoy (third-person singular simple present decoys, present participle decoying, simple past and past participle decoyed)
- To lead into danger by artifice; to lure into a net or snare; to entrap.
- to decoy troops into an ambush; to decoy ducks into a net
- E'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy, / The heart, distrusting, asks if this be joy.1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC
- To act as, or use, a decoy.
- As they were being decoyed, the rescue team carried the hostage and quietly slipped away.
decoy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
decoy in Hindi
- person or object meant to lure something to danger
- चारा cārā, प्रलोभन pralobhan
- animal used by hunters to lure game
- चारा cārā, प्रलोभन pralobhan
decoy in Tamil
- கவர் பொருள், தூண்டிற் பொருள், பாலிக்குண்டு
decoy in Urdu
- دام, ہلارا, مرغ دام, لبھانا, پھسلانا, للچانا
decoy in Bengali
- প্রলোভন, টোপ
More languagesFewer languages
- decoy in Malayalam
- ആശ കാട്ടി വശീകരിക്കുന്നയാൾ, കെണി
- decoy in Kannada
- ಹಿಡಿಯೆರಲೆ, ಹಿಡಿಯೆರಳೆ, ಪ್ರಲೋಭನ, ಆಮಿಷ
- decoy in Tagalog
- kati, pangati
- decoy in Myanmar
- ဒလန် da.lan
Examples of decoy in a sentence
- Because a "decoy duck" is not a duck, "decoy" is an alienans adjective.
- A Pennsylvania man was charged with jacklighting, allegedly shining his truck headlights onto a police deer decoy.
- The attention of the would-be captee is drawn by a decoy bird which resides in a side compartment to the trap.
Synonyms of decoy
Forms of decoy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | decoys |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | decoys |
| present participle | decoying |
| past participle | decoyed |
| past | decoyed |
Origin of decoy
From Dutch de + kooi, literally "the cage". Possibly related to verb coy (which itself may have been influenced by decoy).
Words formed from decoy
Phrases with decoy
Questions about decoy
- What does decoy mean?
- Decoy means a person or object meant to lure somebody into danger.
- What is decoy in Hindi?
- Decoy in Hindi is चारा (cārā), प्रलोभन (pralobhan). See Decoy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is decoy?
- Decoy can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce decoy?
- Decoy is pronounced /ˈdiːkɔɪ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of decoy?
- The plural of decoy is decoys.
Words near decoy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: decoy (page history and authors); decoy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); decoy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Decoy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); decoy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); decoy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-decoy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “decoy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/decoy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.