smoke and mirrors

smoke and mirrors noun: a deceptive, fraudulent, or unconvincing explanation or description.

Noun

smoke and mirrors

(figuratively) A deceptive, fraudulent, or unconvincing explanation or description.
- Budget process? It's more like a magic show. It's wink and blink and smoke and mirrors and pulling rabbits out of hats, but almost all that ever comes up are designs to hide increases for the special interests.1987 March 21, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address
- On revenue raising issues, Mr Harris reveals what a master of smoke and mirrors Bob Carr really is.2007, Australian Senate, Parliamentary debates Australia: Senate

As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors.2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
Reflecting on the memories shared with their family, adult children may wonder: "Was it all smoke and mirrors?2025 September 12, Molly Gorman, quoting Carol Hughes, “'Was it all smoke and mirrors?': How adult children are affected by grey divorce”...

From techniques traditionally used by stage magicians.

What does smoke and mirrors mean?: Smoke and mirrors means a deceptive, fraudulent, or unconvincing explanation or description.
How do you use smoke and mirrors in a sentence?: As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors.
What part of speech is smoke and mirrors?: Smoke and mirrors is a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: smoke and mirrors (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “smoke and mirrors.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/smoke_and_mirrors. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.