How to use ruse in a sentence

22 example sentences · noun, verb

Ruse means a turning or doubling back, especially of animals to get out of the way of hunting dogs. Example: “How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse?”

Examples of ruse by meaning

nounAn action intended to deceive; a trick.

Soon, however, Courvoisier forced matters, when, despairing of ever catching the wily outlaw leader by fair means, he resorted to the ruse of carrying off Friar Tuck of Copmanhurst and holding him as a hostage.1922 May, Fred R. Hurworth, “The Alchemist: A Story of the Days of Robin Hood”, in The Boy’s Own Paper, volume XLV, part 7, London: "Boy's...
Warships, whether surface or submarine, may use ruses and strategems.1993, L[eslie] C. Green, “Conduct of Hostilities: Maritime”, in The Contemporary Law of Armed Conflict (Melland Schill Monographs in...
The terminological distinction between reproductive and therapeutic cloning is a semantic ruse, as every instance of human cloning is a true reproducive act.2005 November, John R. Meyer, “The Brave New World of Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Utilitarian Consequentialism and Faulty Moral...

nounCunning, guile, trickery.

They took the small place by ruse.2005, Benerson Little, “Houses, Towns, and Cities Sacked: The Sea Rover as a Soldier”, in The Sea Rover’s Practice: Pirate Tactics and...

verbTo deceive or trick using a ruse.

Anyway, no man can escape the woman he considers too much rused for him: tear her down or run away toward her if he can't meet her head-and-hind on.1956, Herbert Gold, “Then Visited from the Jungle to Jungles”, in The Man who was Not with It, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company...
In all types, manners and forms, empire “bilderz” come forward rusing out their favorite lines and spew.2009, Lee Kierig, “Ain’t No School, Quite Like, No Skool”, in Where, is Infinite Love? Public Welfare, Human Responsibility and...

verbOf an animal: to turn or double back to elude hunters or their hunting dogs.

In the parallel hunt of Octovian, the hart has rused and momentarily escaped.1988, “Hunt”, in Jean-Charles Seigneuret, editor, Dictionary of Literary Themes and Motifs, volumes 1 (A–J), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood...

More sentences with ruse

How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse?From the entry be
P'eng claims that he bought some time against this threat by a Tom Sawyeresque ruse.1977, Roy Hofheinz, Jr., The Broken Wave: The Chinese Communist Peasant Movement, 1922-1928, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, part 3…. From the entry Tom Sawyeresque
P’eng claims that he bought some time against this threat by a Tom Sawyeresque ruse.1977, Roy Hofheinz, Jr., “Origins of a Revolution: P’eng P’ai in Haifeng, 1922-1924”, in The Broken Wave: The Chinese Communist Peasant…. From the entry P'eng
"That was only a mere ruse de guerre, as they say in the noosepapers."1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 169. From the entry noosepaper
Waiters were in on the ruse, and would frequently distract customers in order to facilitate the yoinking of oysters and caviar.2017, Nate Crowley, 100 Best Video Games (That Never Existed), →ISBN, page 90. From the entry yoink
They don't tend to fall for the whole pointing one way as you run the other way “made you look” ruse.2014, Lexi Blake, Steal the Moon, page 7. From the entry made you look
There is much stronger evidence that the title is a ruse, luring the viewer in by half measures.2006, Gary Kibbins, Andrew J. Paterson, Grammar & Not-grammar: Selected Scripts and Essays. From the entry half-measure
The ruse might have worked, except that the six-foot-four, blue-eyed blond overseers parlez-voused English in “Ya-shoor!” Scandinavian tones.1985, Car and Driver, page 135, column 1. From the entry parlez-vous
Not always does this ruse succeed however.1953 November, 'Erca', “Ticket Frauds in the East”, in Railway Magazine, page 780. From the entry illiterate
In your case, I fear, confession is exploitation by indirection, profit-making by ruse, self-aggrandizement at the expense of God.1907 September, Jack London, “A Day’s Lodging”, in Love of Life and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London…. From the entry self-aggrandizement
Ruses of war are legitimate so long as they do not involve treachery or perfidy on the part of the belligerent resorting to them.2008, Sidney Axinn, A Moral Military, page 84. From the entry perfidy
Their simple ruse had sent the imperialists scurrying along the east bank to Siangtan, thus permitting the rebels to escape without molestation.1927, William James Hail, Tsêng Kuo Fan And The Taiping Rebellion: With a Short Sketch of His Later Career, Yale History Press, →OCLC…. From the entry Siangtan
It was this blend of genuine, authentic Bentley parts with his recreations of the unobtanium bits that had Patrick thinking that this ruse would actually work.2011, Kevin Gosselin, chapter 27, in Hunt for the Blower Bentley, London: MX Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry unobtanium
Trading in their battered RV and Louisiana swamplands for a sumptuous pink mansionette with swimming pool, the Malloys pull off their ruse with skill and also childish naïveté.2007 December 3, Alessandra Stanley, “For This Family of Pros, the Con Is Everything”, in The New York Times. From the entry swampland
Different types of political organisation, such as constitutional arrangements protecting individual rights, were simply ruses generally adopted by foxish elites to pull the wool over the eyes of the people.2009, Joseph V. Femia, Vilfredo Pareto. From the entry foxish

Meaning of ruse

noun A turning or doubling back, especially of animals to get out of the way of hunting dogs.
noun An action intended to deceive; a trick.
noun Cunning, guile, trickery.

Full definition of ruse

Questions about ruse in a sentence

How do you use ruse in a sentence?: Ruse is used as a noun and verb. For example: “How were they to know the whole exercise was a ruse?”
What is a short sentence with ruse?: “Not always does this ruse succeed however.”
What does ruse mean?: Ruse means a turning or doubling back, especially of animals to get out of the way of hunting dogs.

Adapted from Wiktionary: ruse (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use ruse in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/ruse. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.