trick

1 of 3

noun

ˈtrik 

1

a

: a crafty procedure or practice meant to deceive or defraud

b

: a mischievous act : prank

c

: a deceptive, dexterous, or ingenious feat

especially : one designed to puzzle or amuse

a juggler's tricks

d

: an indiscreet or childish action

2

a(1)

: a quick or artful way of getting a result : knack

the trick is to make it look natural

(2)

: an instance of getting a desired result

one small adjustment will do the trick

b

: a technical device (as of an art or craft)

the tricks of stage technique

3

a

: a delusive appearance especially when caused by art or legerdemain : an optical illusion

a mere trick of the light

b

: a habitual peculiarity of behavior or manner

a horse with the trick of shying

c

: a characteristic and identifying feature

a trick of speech

4

: the cards played in one round of a card game often used as a scoring unit

5

a

: a sexual act performed by a prostitute

turning tricks

also : john sense 2

b

: shift sense 4b(1)

c

: a trip taken as part of one's employment

d

: a turn of duty at the helm usually lasting for two hours

6

: an attractive child or woman

a cute little trick

trick

2 of 3

verb

tricked; tricking; tricks

transitive verb

: to deceive by cunning or artifice : cheat see also trick out

trick

3 of 3

adjective

1

a

: of or relating to or involving tricks or trickery

trick photography

trick dice

b

: skilled in or used for tricks

a trick horse

2

a

: somewhat defective and unreliable

a trick lock

b

: inclined to give way unexpectedly

a trick knee

3

: trig

Synonyms

Noun

• artifice
• device
• dodge
• fetch
• flimflam
• gambit
• gimmick
• jig
• juggle
• knack
• play
• ploy
• ruse
• scheme
• shenanigan
• sleight
• stratagem
• wile

Verb

• bamboozle
• beguile
• bluff
• buffalo
• burn
• catch
• con
• cozen
• deceive
• delude
• dupe
• fake out
• fool
• gaff
• gammon
• gull
• have
• have on [chiefly British]
• hoax
• hoodwink
• hornswoggle
• humbug
• juggle
• misguide
• misinform
• mislead
• snooker
• snow
• spoof
• string along
• suck in
• sucker
• take in

Choose the Right Synonym for trick

trick, ruse, stratagem, maneuver, artifice, wile, feint mean an indirect means to gain an end.

trick may imply deception, roguishness, illusion, and either an evil or harmless end.

the tricks of the trade

ruse stresses an attempt to mislead by a false impression.

the ruses of smugglers

stratagem implies a ruse used to entrap, outwit, circumvent, or surprise an opponent or enemy.

the stratagem-filled game

maneuver suggests adroit and skillful avoidance of difficulty.

last-minute maneuvers to avert bankruptcy

artifice implies ingenious contrivance or invention.

the clever artifices of the stage

wile suggests an attempt to entrap or deceive with false allurements.

used all of his wiles to ingratiate himself

feint implies a diversion or distraction of attention away from one's real intent.

a feint toward the enemy's left flank

Examples of trick in a Sentence

Noun

It was a trick to persuade her to give him money.

She enjoys playing tricks on her friends.

For his last trick, the magician made a rabbit disappear.

Verb

He tricked her by wearing a disguise.

you tricked me into thinking my ex wasn't coming to the party tonight

Adjective

a trick shot in pool

He has a trick knee.

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

On screens cluttered with death traps, players must move, jump, and interact with extreme precision — often using consecutive frame-perfect tricks or inputs that must be done within the right fraction of a second. —Jay Castello, The Verge, 12 Apr. 2024

Whether audiences identify as Team Patrick or Team Art, Guadagnino pulls a risky yet effective trick, essentially scoring the winning shot himself. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 12 Apr. 2024

Within the app, teens use Scratch to move coding blocks that then command the drone to perform all types of movements and tricks. —Maya Polton, Parents, 12 Apr. 2024

But on this night, the Argentine had no magic tricks in his hat. —Michelle Kaufman, Miami Herald, 11 Apr. 2024

If your print needs a little bit of touching up, some water and a paintbrush can often do the trick of filling in accidental holes. —Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Apr. 2024

Cy can then go to the king of spades, draw the missing trump with the queen and win the last three tricks with the ace of spades and high diamonds. —Frank Stewart, The Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2024

Their style of cooking is off-beat, focusing more on emotion and memory than tricks, and Michelin rewarded them for that. —Alyson Sheppard, Robb Report, 8 Apr. 2024

California’s wealthiest farm family — and scores of their workers — accused UFW of bait and trick. —Defne Karabatur, Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2024

Verb

Scammers are now tricking victims more through emails and texts than via phone calls, according to new data from the Federal Trade Commission. —Michael Kan, PCMAG, 1 Apr. 2024

The pods trick the brain into thinking the water tastes like watermelon or cherry cola. —Julia Gomez, USA TODAY, 1 Apr. 2024

Sarah Bird, Microsoft’s chief product officer of responsible AI, unveiled new protections to prevent hackers from tricking AI chatbots created using the company’s Azure AI Studio into breaking its own safety guardrails. —Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 1 Apr. 2024

By spoofing the identity of a carrier—the companies that employ truck drivers to pick up goods—fraudsters can trick brokers who arrange those deals into handing over large amounts of cargo. —Andy Greenberg Andrew Couts, WIRED, 30 Mar. 2024

During that same eclipse in 1991, researchers stationed outside a cave in Mexico saw several species of bats emerge from their roosts in the middle of the afternoon, seemingly tricked by the artificial dusk. —Cody Cottier, Discover Magazine, 19 Mar. 2024

Scammers have long claimed in emails, texts and phone calls to work for the IRS in order to trick people into giving out their personal information. —Kevin Collier, NBC News, 4 Mar. 2024

Phishing domains are commonly used to target employees and trick them into revealing sensitive information—login details, financial data or other company or personal information—which can be used to exploit company networks. —Candan Bolukbas, Forbes, 28 Feb. 2024

This week, a button goes to Steinberg, who tricked us into making this foray into March Madness. —Andrew Van Dam, Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2024

Adjective

My idea was not to get too trick-sy with it, to keep it at a fairly simple visual level. —Corey S Powell, Discover Magazine, 5 Nov. 2014

As Halloween approaches, investors seem fearful that good credit performance may be more trick than treat. —Telis Demos, WSJ, 21 Oct. 2022

If the high cost of it all is more trick than treat for you, here are several ways to turn your already smart home into a spook-tacularly genius haunted house. —Jennifer Jolly, USA TODAY, 28 Oct. 2021

And arguably, given the variety of cask types used by the distillery, Angel’s Envy is actually a multi-trick pony. —Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 11 June 2021

The ‘00s are cool again, right? (Trick question: They, like Britney, have always been cool.) —Kara Nesvig, Allure, 23 June 2017

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English trikke, from Anglo-French *trik, from trikier to deceive, cheat, from Vulgar Latin *triccare, alteration of Latin tricari to behave evasively, shuffle, from tricae complications, trifles

First Known Use

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1631, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

circa 1530, in the meaning defined at sense 3

Phrases Containing trick

• confidence trick
• con trick
• hat trick
• do the trick
• odd trick
• one-trick pony
• play a trick on (someone)
• never/not miss a trick
• dirty/mean/rotten trick
• parlor trick
• trick into
• show/teach (someone) a trick or two
• trick or treat
• trick question
• try/use every trick in the book
• turn the trick
• trick out of
• trick photography
• trick of the/one's trade
• trick of the light
• trick out
• parlour trick

Kids Definition

trick

1 of 3 noun

ˈtrik 

1

a

: an action meant to deceive or cheat

b

: a mischievous act : prank

c

: an unwise or childish action

d

: a skillful or clever feat designed to puzzle or amuse

a juggler's tricks

2

: a habitual peculiarity of behavior or manner

a trick of speech

3

a

: a quick or artful way of getting a result : knack

the trick is to do it quickly

b

: an instance of getting a desired result

one small adjustment will do the trick

4

: a technical device (as of an art or craft)

tricks of the trade

5

: the cards played in one round of a card game

trick

2 of 3 verb

1

: to deceive with tricks : cheat

2

: to dress or decorate especially oddly or ornately

tricked out in a gaudy uniform

trick

3 of 3 adjective

1

a

: of or relating to or involving tricks or trickery

trick photography

b

: skilled in or used for tricks

a trick horse

2

a

: somewhat defective and unreliable

a trick lock

b

: inclined to give way unexpectedly

a trick knee