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Business English vocabulary · Negotiations

Call someone's bluff

Meaning in business english, with examples

idiomAdvanced term

In business english, call someone's bluff means: To challenge a threat or claim by acting as if the other person must prove it.

In Turkish: blöfünü görmek

How it is used

Informal and potentially confrontational. It involves uncertainty: the other party may actually be willing to carry out the threat.

Example sentences

  1. Before you call someone's bluff over cancelling an order, consider whether you can manage without that sale.

    Testing the cancellation threat may reveal that it is real, so the possible loss matters.

  2. It is easier to call someone's bluff about switching suppliers when you know the alternatives are unavailable.

    Information about alternatives informs the judgement that the switching threat may be empty.

Common collocations

  • be ready to call someone's bluff
  • try to call someone's bluff
  • play hardballTo act in a very tough, uncompromising way in business or negotiations in order to gain an advantage or pressure others.
  • negotiateTo discuss something formally with another side in order to reach an agreement both can accept, for example on price or contract terms.

More terms: Negotiations

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