legerdemain

American  

[lej-er-duh-meyn] / ˌlɛdʒ ər dəˈmeɪn /

noun

1. sleight of hand.

2. trickery; deception.

3. any artful trick.

---

legerdemain British  

/ ˌlɛdʒədəˈmeɪn /

noun

1. another name for sleight of hand

2. cunning deception or trickery

---

Other Word Forms

• legerdemainist noun

Etymology

Origin of legerdemain

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English legerdemeyn, lygarde de mayne “skill in conjuring, sleight of hand,” from Middle French léger de main “nimble, skillful,” literally “light of hand” (unrecorded)

Example Sentences

And he never knew that, unlike the verdict of an early viewer who dismissed his paintings as “mere legerdemain,” today they are seen as magical in a positive sense.

From The Wall Street Journal

We also meet Malini the Magician, about whose tricks and feats of legerdemain “stories are still told, with a true sense of awe, by some of the world’s greatest magicians.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The filmmakers indulge in some legerdemain, having the real-life participants recount the events as if certain facts were not already in the open at the time of the interviews.

From New York Times

As I’ve pointed out before, accounts of the penuriousness of life on such an income invariably involve financial legerdemain.

From Los Angeles Times

Poirot reacts to all this legerdemain with a disbelieving scowl, even when he can’t fully explain the hair-raising tricks his eyes and ears are playing on him.

From Los Angeles Times