What does the saying smoke and mirrors mean?

Definition of smoke and mirrors

: something intended to disguise or draw attention away from an often embarrassing or unpleasant issue —usually hyphenated when used attributively.

What does the expression smoke & mirrors mean?

When you say that a politician's argument is 'smoke and mirrors', you mean it lacks substance. *Use smoke and mirrors if you have to. … A magician depends upon smoke and mirrors to perform his tricks. The mirrors help create an illusion, and the smoke is frequently used to divert the attention of the audience.

How do you use smoke and mirrors in a sentence?

This matter is too serious for smoke and mirrors. The problem with the project is that it is all smoke and mirrors. All this smoke and mirrors on voting is absurd. We have to understand that what happened yesterday was a smoke and mirrors trick.

What’s another way to say smoke and mirrors?

In this page you can discover 6 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for smoke-and-mirrors, like: crap, flimflam, hokum, legerdemain, sleight of hand and snow-job.

What is the opposite of smoke and mirrors?

What is the opposite of smoke and mirrors?

artlessnessfairness
honourUKopenness
realitysincerity
trustworthinesstruth
truthfulness

Where did the phrase smoke and mirrors come from?

The phrase smoke and mirrors echoes the tools magicians use in elaborate stage illusions. The idea was coined by American newspaperman, Jimmy Breslin in his book Notes from Impeachment Summer, published in 1975. The book deals with the Watergate scandal.

What is smoke and dagger?

"Cloak and dagger" refers to situations involving intrigue, secrecy, espionage, or mystery.

Where is smoke there’s fire?

Definition of where there's smoke, there's fire —used to say that if people are saying that someone has done something wrong there is usually a good reason for what they are saying "Do you believe those rumors about the mayor?" "Well, you know what they say, where there's smoke, there's fire."

What is another word for sleight of hand?

In this page you can discover 12 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for sleight of hand, like: legerdemain, deception, magic, conjuration, escamotage, prestidigitation, smoke-and-mirrors, trickery, performing-arts, conjuring and mentalism.