as in switcheroo
US
a selling method in which a customer is attracted by the advertisement of a low-priced product but then is encouraged to buy a more expensive one
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Examples of bait and switch in a Sentence
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It was passed because hundreds of thousands of people are duped into bait and switch contracts with variable rates.
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Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 6 May 2024
This was the essential bait and switch of couples therapy.
—Leslie Jamison, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2024
But the annual budget bill process achieves new levels of absurdity because of both a bait and switch change to the constitution in 2010 and the fact that California is now a one-party state.
—Jon Coupal, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
But the film begins with yet another bait and switch: a brief segment starring Henry Cavill as Aubrey Argylle, the Bond-ish hero of Elly Conway’s novels, and his villainous opponent, a faux-Bond girl played by the pop star Dua Lipa.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bait and switch 
Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 6 May 2024
This was the essential bait and switch of couples therapy.
—Leslie Jamison, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2024
But the annual budget bill process achieves new levels of absurdity because of both a bait and switch change to the constitution in 2010 and the fact that California is now a one-party state.
—Jon Coupal, Orange County Register, 25 Feb. 2024
But the film begins with yet another bait and switch: a brief segment starring Henry Cavill as Aubrey Argylle, the Bond-ish hero of Elly Conway’s novels, and his villainous opponent, a faux-Bond girl played by the pop star Dua Lipa.
—Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 13 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bait and switch
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bait and switch.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“Bait and switch.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bait%20and%20switch. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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