noun
Synonym Usage
See duplicity.
Etymology
Origin of trickery
Explanation
When tricks of any kind are used to fool or deceive someone, especially for financial gain, that's trickery. If you suspect that a cute kid has scammed you out of twenty dollars, you have every right to accuse him of trickery. Trickery is using pretense or sleight of hand or fast talking to cheat a person out of some amount of money, the way a card sharp or a con man might do. The earliest use of trick was in this negative sense — a mean ruse or cheat. Trickery simply adds the Middle English ery to the end to form a new noun.
Vocabulary lists containing trickery
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mr. Lanchester is a magnetic writer who combines the skills of a social realist with this penchant for Nabokovian black humor and narrative trickery.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 8, 2026
Because it’s not just the EU trade commissioner complaining about trickery.,
From Slate • Jul. 14, 2025
Playing as both an attacking midfielder and a wide forward, Kirby has entertained with trickery, creativity and unpredictability ever since.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2025
“I had to go in there with a little trickery, man.”
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 19, 2025
Eventually Captain Candless gave the word and they started shunting toward the coast, running closer to where they would attempt their trickery.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
