stratagem
- a plan, scheme, or trick for surprising or deceiving an enemy.
- any artifice, ruse, or trick devised or used to attain a goal or to gain an advantage over an adversary or competitor: business stratagems.
Origin of stratagem
Synonyms for stratagem
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Related Words for stratagem
ploy, ruse, one-upmanship, subterfuge, wile, gimmick, brainchild, artifice, scene, twist, proposition, pitch, racket, pretext, plot, story, angle, scheme, method, dodgeExamples from the Web for stratagem
Contemporary Examples of stratagem
This was the stratagem of leftists everywhere for a long, long time.
Historical Examples of stratagem
They could not understand the motive, and feared a stratagem.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
Will they not suspect, when once introduced to you, the stratagem that has been adopted?
Night and Morning, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
He merely wished to keep us here a little while until he could by stratagem outflank us.
FreelandTheodor Hertzka
The stratagem of the wily savage was thus perfectly successful.
King PhilipJohn S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
They resort to every stratagem which a vile and savage spirit could inspire.
Three Years in the Federal CavalryWillard Glazier
stratagem
- a plan or trick, esp one to deceive an enemy
Word Origin for stratagem
Word Origin and History for stratagem
"artifice, trick," late 15c., from Middle French stratagème "trick, especially to outwit an enemy," from Italian stratagemma, from Latin strategema "artifice, stratagem," from Greek strategema "the act of a general, military stratagem," from strategein "to be a general, command," from strategos "general" (see strategy).