ploy

1 a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end <asking me to take her shopping turned out to be a ploy to get me to the surprise party> Synonyms artifice, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, trick, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, wileRelated Words bluff, end run, feint; cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery; fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle; blind, front, smoke screen

2 a time or instance of carefree fun <wanted one grand ploy through Europe before settling down and raising a family> Synonyms binge, frisk, frolic, gambol, idyll (also idyl), lark, fling, revel, rollick, romp, spreeRelated Words caper, escapade, prank; bender, brannigan, bum, bust, carouse, souse, splore [Scottish], toot; antic, monkeyshine(s), shenanigan(s); field day; festivity, merriment, merrymaking; enjoyment, indulgence, pleasure, self-indulgence; amusement, diversion, entertainment, recreation