gamesmanship

noun

games·​man·​ship ˈgāmz-mən-ˌship 

1

: the art or practice of winning games by questionable expedients without actually violating the rules

2

: the use of ethically dubious methods to gain an objective

Synonyms

• artifice
• chicane
• chicanery
• hanky-panky
• jiggery-pokery
• jugglery
• legerdemain
• skulduggery
• skullduggery
• subterfuge
• trickery
• wile

Examples of gamesmanship in a Sentence

They blur the line between gamesmanship and cheating.

that author doesn't go in for literary gamesmanship, so the reader is never led astray by the novel's narrator

Recent Examples on the Web

He’s arguably been Florida’s best player in this Stanley Cup Final run, scoring 15 goals through 22 games, on top of his usual gamesmanship and physical antics. —Harman Dayal, New York Times, 15 June 2025

Mike McCabe, the veteran gaming industry executive who heads the EWC Foundation, explained how gamesmanship would influence every aspect of the event. —Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 9 June 2025

His comments raise the rhetorical gamesmanship to a level U.S. officials weren’t comfortable with in the past. —Daniel Depetris, Chicago Tribune, 3 June 2025

Now the stories of public-employee gamesmanship are appearing again. —The Editorial Board, Oc Register, 30 May 2025

Word History

Etymology

games, plural of game entry 1 + -manship (after sportsmanship)

Note: A word popularized and probably originated in this sense by the British author Stephen Potter (1900-69) in The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship (1947).

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for gamesmanship

• apostleship
• apprenticeship
• assistantship
• championship
• chancellorship
• citizenship
• companionship
• copartnership
• dictatorship
• directorship
• discipleship
• editorship