foil
You can serve as a foil to someone if you show them to be better than you by contrast. If you can’t dance but your friend Lisa can, you can be a foil to Lisa’s grace.
If you’re having trouble remembering this definition, think about a shiny piece of tin foil. It reflects an image back to you, so if you’re a foil to someone, their image is reflected off of you in a positive light. Your brother’s mediocre grades might serve as a foil to your intelligence. As a verb, if you foil someone’s plans or attempts to do something, you cause them to fail. Your brother will be really mad if you foil his plans to hide his mediocre report card from your parents.
hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of
“foil your opponent”-
types:
- show 10 types…
- hide 10 types…
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disappoint, let downfail to meet the hopes or expectations of
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dashdestroy or break
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short-circuithamper the progress of; impede
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ruindestroy or cause to fail
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betray, faildisappoint, prove undependable to; abandon, forsake
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come short, fall shortfail to meet (expectations or standards)
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disenchant, disillusionfree from enchantment
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undocause the ruin or downfall of
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breakcause the failure or ruin of
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shipwreckruin utterly
a piece of thin and flexible sheet metal
“the photographic film was wrapped in
foil”-
types:
- show 5 types…
- hide 5 types…
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aluminium foil, aluminum foil, tin foilfoil made of aluminum
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chafffoil in thin strips; ejected into the air as a radar countermeasure
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gold foilfoil made of gold
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tin foil, tinfoilfoil made of tin or an alloy of tin and lead
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gold leafa very thin form of gold foil
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type of:
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sheet metalsheet of metal formed into a thin plate
cover or back with foil
“foil mirrors”-
type of:
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coverprovide with a covering or cause to be covered
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cover
anything that serves by contrast to call attention to another thing’s good qualities
picture consisting of a positive photograph or drawing on a transparent base; viewed with a projector
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synonyms:
transparencyenhance by contrast
“In this picture, the figures are
foiled against the background”-
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contrast, counterpointshow differences when compared; be different
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contrast, counterpoint
a light slender flexible sword tipped by a button
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type of:
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fencing sworda sword used in the sport of fencing
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fencing sword
a device consisting of a flat or curved piece (as a metal plate) so that its surface reacts to the water it is passing through