"smoke and mirrors" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From techniques traditionally used by stage magicians.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "smoke and mirrors"
      },
      "expansion": "smoke and mirrors",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
          "parents": [
            "Coordinated pairs",
            "Terms by etymology"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
          "parents": [
            "Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987 March 21, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Australian Senate, Parliamentary debates Australia: Senate",
          "text": "On revenue raising issues, Mr Harris reveals what a master of smoke and mirrors Bob Carr really is.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 October 17, Barack Obama, Weekly Address: Taking the Insurance Companies on Down the Stretch",
          "text": "It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, \"Take one of these, and call us in a decade.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3",
          "text": "As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors. His reaction to near-universal IRP condemnation from politicians, local and national media, and all but a few rail specialists was to dismiss the lot of us (in the condescending and patronising tone we have now come to expect) as \"critics and naysayers\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A deceptive, fraudulent, or unconvincing explanation or description."
      ],
      "id": "en-smoke_and_mirrors-en-noun-yweFamqC",
      "links": [
        [
          "deceptive",
          "deceptive"
        ],
        [
          "fraudulent",
          "fraudulent"
        ],
        [
          "unconvincing",
          "unconvincing"
        ],
        [
          "explanation",
          "explanation"
        ],
        [
          "description",
          "description"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "blow smoke"
        },
        {
          "word": "do with mirrors"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "hämäys"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "silmänlume"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "savua ja peilejä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "écran de fumée"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "miroir aux alouettes"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "poudre aux yeux"
        },
        {
          "code": "hi",
          "lang": "Hindi",
          "note": "आँख में धूल झोंकना (ā̃kh mẽ dhūl jhõknā, literally “shove dust/smoke in eyes”)",
          "sense": "Translations"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "smoke and mirrors"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "smoke and mirrors"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "From techniques traditionally used by stage magicians.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "noun",
        "head": "smoke and mirrors"
      },
      "expansion": "smoke and mirrors",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "blow smoke"
    },
    {
      "word": "do with mirrors"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English coordinated pairs",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1987 March 21, Ronald Reagan, Presidential Radio Address",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Australian Senate, Parliamentary debates Australia: Senate",
          "text": "On revenue raising issues, Mr Harris reveals what a master of smoke and mirrors Bob Carr really is.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2009 October 17, Barack Obama, Weekly Address: Taking the Insurance Companies on Down the Stretch",
          "text": "It’s smoke and mirrors. It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, \"Take one of these, and call us in a decade.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3",
          "text": "As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors. His reaction to near-universal IRP condemnation from politicians, local and national media, and all but a few rail specialists was to dismiss the lot of us (in the condescending and patronising tone we have now come to expect) as \"critics and naysayers\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A deceptive, fraudulent, or unconvincing explanation or description."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "deceptive",
          "deceptive"
        ],
        [
          "fraudulent",
          "fraudulent"
        ],
        [
          "unconvincing",
          "unconvincing"
        ],
        [
          "explanation",
          "explanation"
        ],
        [
          "description",
          "description"
        ]
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "smoke and mirrors"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "hämäys"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "silmänlume"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "savua ja peilejä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "écran de fumée"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "miroir aux alouettes"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "poudre aux yeux"
    },
    {
      "code": "hi",
      "lang": "Hindi",
      "note": "आँख में धूल झोंकना (ā̃kh mẽ dhūl jhõknā, literally “shove dust/smoke in eyes”)",
      "sense": "Translations"
    }
  ],
  "word": "smoke and mirrors"
}