throw dust in someone's eyes: meaning & examples

Meanings:

• 1.

  generalinformalidiomatic
  • To deceive, mislead, or distract someone by creating confusion, obscuring the truth, or presenting a misleading impression.

  Examples

  Beta

  • The politician tried to throw dust in the voters' eyes by promising reforms he never intended to implement.

    The politician tried to deceive the voters by making false promises about reforms.

  • You can't throw dust in my eyes with those excuses—I know the truth about what happened.

    You can't mislead me with those excuses—I know the real story.

  • During negotiations, he threw dust in their eyes by highlighting minor successes to hide the bigger failures.

    During negotiations, he misled them by focusing on small successes to conceal major failures.