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tried various stratagems to get the cat into the carrier, but the feisty feline was wise to them all
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'stratagem.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
A "stratagem" is any clever scheme - sometimes one that's part of an overall "strategy" (i.e., a carefully worked out plan of action). Clearly, we no longer limit ourselves to the original military sense of "stratagem" as 15th-century users of the term did. The military meaning can be traced back to the word's Greek ancestor strategema, which is itself based on strategein, meaning "to act as a general." "Strategein" in turn comes from "strategos" ("general"), which comes from "stratos" ("army") and "agein" ("to lead"). "Strategos" is an ancestor of "strategy" as well.
artifice, device, dodge, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, knack, play, ploy, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, trick, wile;
cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, cunning, deception, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery;
sleight of hand;
: a trick or plan for deceiving an enemy or for achieving a goal
See words that rhyme with stratagem Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for stratagem Spanish Central: Translation of stratagem Nglish: Translation of stratagem for Spanish speakers
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