How to Use bait in a Sentence

bait

1 of 2 verb
Definition of baitnext
Synonyms for baitnext
  • The interviewer kept baiting the politician by asking him whether he was lying.
  • The heads are often painted to match the skirts, and the hooks vary from bait to bait in size and shape.
    — Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 12 Oct. 2023
  • Small squid in beam of light, seems to have no lights, went down to bait. Cyclothones.
    — Brad Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2023
  • There’s also an 11-footer that can toss plugs and bait up to 5 ounces.
    — Alberto Knie, Field & Stream, 22 June 2023
  • Hunters in New Hampshire are allowed to bait bears from Sept. 1 through Sept. 28.
    — Amanda Gokee, BostonGlobe.com, 31 Aug. 2023
  • The two lines were each baited, one further out into the gulf than the other.
    — Irene Wright The Charlotte Observer (tns), al, 3 July 2023
  • Or is the mandate at Max to focus on broad appeal fare and not awards bait?
    — Lesley Goldberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Jan. 2024
  • As in most lakes of this type, both current and bait schools are likely to be key to success.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 23 Dec. 2020
  • In the meantime, Team Trump is trying to bait DeSantis with a lot of hooks.
    — David Jackson, USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2023
  • The movie wrapped up filming earlier this year and has awards bait all over it.
    — Andy Meek, BGR, 19 Sep. 2022
  • Many of the young anglers came into the session not knowing how to bait a hook or cast a line.
    — Emmett Hall, sun-sentinel.com, 1 Apr. 2021
  • The bullish Moss baits the hook and reels the weaker man in, planting the idea and prompting further inquiry.
    — Jason Bailey, New York Times, 30 June 2023
  • Once baited and ready to use, hang the trap outside near a fly source like garbage or compost pile.
    — Rachel Ahrnsen, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Oct. 2023
  • This is one of the main ways that scammers will bait you to landing on phishing websites.
    — Kurt Knutsson, Fox News, 6 Sep. 2023
  • All that bait milling around on the surface makes an easy target for the bass—and for anglers who are trying to fool them.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 2 May 2021
  • But, all of that does bait Darlene into punching Wendy and that right hook could lose her Zeke.
    — Shannon Carlin, refinery29.com, 30 Mar. 2020
  • The rigs are baited with minnows, crayfish and leeches and worked in the current under a float.
    — cleveland, 7 May 2020
  • Their clothes are not just aspirational, but also bait — to catch the right fish.
    — Tilly Lawless, refinery29.com, 13 Dec. 2022
  • Off the beach, kings and Spanish continue to chase bait to the surface within a mile of the beach as well as up to 10 miles offshore.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 10 Sep. 2021
  • In fact, race-baiting propaganda pre-dates the Cold War.
    — Fortune, 18 Dec. 2019
  • That’s because the researchers had placed olfactory bait around the area.
    — Joshua Hawkins, BGR, 3 Aug. 2022
  • Early in the fishing season, bait catches more fish than lures.
    — Tom Stienstra, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Feb. 2021
  • The pressure to bait and pull pots or lines and handle nets can be unrelenting.
    — Anchorage Daily News, 19 July 2021
  • Most bait the crab traps with squid; some use salmon carcasses saved from the past summer’s fishing.
    — Tom Stienstra, SFChronicle.com, 11 Nov. 2020
  • As Curry ignored Porter’s efforts to bait him, Curry’s teammates had a sense of what was to come.
    — Connor Letourneau, San Francisco Chronicle, 31 Jan. 2022
  • The scene's flipped for everything from the signature antique dealers to bait shops, too.
    — Star Tribune, 30 July 2021
  • The bulls know exactly where the riders are at all times and even bait them into making mistakes.
    — Dennis Rudner, San Antonio Express-News, 27 Sep. 2021
  • On the Hunt For a while, zoo workers tried to lure Flaco back using traps baited with dead rats, but he was unmoved.
    — Ed Shanahan, New York Times, 2 Feb. 2024
  • In the little rowboat with my father and his father, my job was to take a wire clothes hanger bent into a ring, bait it and pull up the crabs.
    — Marc Myers, WSJ, 15 Nov. 2022
  • At the very least, fly fishing is an alternative to bait casting.
    — oregonlive, 22 Oct. 2020
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bait

2 of 2 noun
  • Wait until the fish takes the bait.
  • The bait zebras — and the rest of the herd — were nowhere in sight.
    — Maura Judkis, Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2023
  • The bait is in the water, but the client is not biting.
    — Hod Fleishman, Forbes, 11 Dec. 2023
  • Use the lighter 30-pound braid with baits like Senkos and Speed Worms.
    — Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 13 Mar. 2024
  • Taking the bait, the former Dean Street boy flips to the first page.
    — Rachel Cusk, Harper's Magazine, 27 Sep. 2023
  • In the middle of it is a pod of tulkun being used as bait by the RDA.
    — Joey Morona, cleveland, 13 Dec. 2022
  • The officers in West Palm Beach had been trained not to take the bait.
    — Danielle Paquette, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Apr. 2023
  • These 11-inch pliers give you the reach to get those deep-hooked baits.
    — Allen Foster, Chicago Tribune, 10 Aug. 2023
  • My only gripe with this bait is the quality of the hooks.
    — Max Inchausti, Field & Stream, 23 Jan. 2023
  • Once the bait-and-switch came to light, Apple removed them.
    — Dan Goodin, Ars Technica, 1 Feb. 2023
  • Traps that use bait will attract more flies due to the strong-smelling bait drawing all the insects in the area to the trap.
    — Rachel Ahrnsen, Better Homes & Gardens, 6 Oct. 2023
  • Typical ant baits will kill the worker ants and leave the queen to pump out more.
    — Lucy Warren, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 Sep. 2023
  • There’s also the Willoughby Lake Store which sells bait, food, and drinks.
    — Deb Hopewell, Travel + Leisure, 3 Feb. 2023
  • To many Americans, the boosters came as a bait-and-switch.
    — Allysia Finley, WSJ, 4 Dec. 2022
  • Powell watched through the screen as the fish nosed down on her soft plastic bait and then turned away.
    — Paul Richards, Field & Stream, 28 June 2023
  • In this case, the bait caused a stir in the sharks, similar to how catnip riles up felines.
    — Jack Tamisiea, Scientific American, 26 July 2023
  • No stone has been left unturned in the click-bait coverage.
    — Akanksha Singh, CNN, 14 Dec. 2022
  • Mike Leach is more to take the bait and talk about officiating in the SEC.
    — Mark Heim | Mheim@al.com, al, 17 Nov. 2022
  • This 7-inch Senko is a larger take on the original bait.
    — Max Inchausti, Field & Stream, 30 Jan. 2023
  • They’ve also been known to steal bait right off an angler’s hook.
    — Monica Cull, Discover Magazine, 12 June 2023
  • According to Black, gel baits are the best roach killer option.
    — Kat De Naoum, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Apr. 2023
  • But police were convinced that Leon had taken the bait.
    — Jim Axelrod, CBS News, 13 Jan. 2024
  • In some instances, the dolphins watched the crab fishers hook bait onto their pots.
    — Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Nov. 2023
  • Or are the Rams showcasing him as new, improved trade bait?
    — Los Angeles Times, 26 Dec. 2022
  • The bait trap may be slightly more difficult to add bait to since it is covered.
    — Brandi Fuller, Better Homes & Gardens, 24 July 2023
  • Instead, Gabler used himself as live bait and dug a six-inch moat around his body.
    — Mallory Arnold, Outside Online, 17 Feb. 2023
  • The fishermen used a piece of carp for bait, cast it out into the river and waited for fish to bite.
    — Ariana Garcia, Chron, 20 Apr. 2023
  • The project members were collecting traps around the park to see if any rats had taken their bait.
    — Madeleine Schwartz, The New York Review of Books, 27 July 2023
  • The charter group went cruising in the open ocean, looking for kingfish, but a giant mako shark took the bait.
    — Kelli Bender, Peoplemag, 18 Nov. 2022
  • Sometimes, animals that aren’t meant to eat the baits end up snatching them.
    — Emily Mullin, WIRED, 29 Aug. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bait.' 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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