as in deception
the use of clever underhanded actions to achieve an end
that candidate only won the election through chicanery
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Recent Examples of chicanery
That said, there are plenty of reasons — none involving any kind of partisan chicanery — that explain why California elections seems to drag on and vote totals shift as ballots are steadily counted.
—
Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 2026
But even as skeptics label Strategy and the DAT model as a house of cards built on financial chicanery, others view them as early leaders in an emerging category of crypto banks.
—Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 3 Dec. 2025
The tale away from the playing field in recent years has been dizzying, one of soaring costs and debts, of quirks and chicanery unseen elsewhere.
—Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
Another recurring feature of the biggest asset booms is outright chicanery, such as fraudulent accounting, the marketing of worthless securities, and plain old stealing.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chicanery
Los Angeles Times, 11 Feb. 2026
But even as skeptics label Strategy and the DAT model as a house of cards built on financial chicanery, others view them as early leaders in an emerging category of crypto banks.
—Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 3 Dec. 2025
The tale away from the playing field in recent years has been dizzying, one of soaring costs and debts, of quirks and chicanery unseen elsewhere.
—Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
Another recurring feature of the biggest asset booms is outright chicanery, such as fraudulent accounting, the marketing of worthless securities, and plain old stealing.
—John Cassidy, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for chicanery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for chicanery
Noun
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To Elliott, these seemingly minuscule mistakes that were ultimately corrected encapsulate Neon’s deception.—
Winston Cho,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Apr. 2026
-
Test your hand-eye coördination and deception skills by maneuvering open windows on your desktop background, answering e-mails and texts and looking at Instagram, all while appearing to be engaged.—
Charles Yu,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Inflamed by Ratansen’s adviser’s account of Padmavati’s beauty, Alauddin Khalji storms the fortress by treachery rather than valor.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
9 Apr. 2026
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But Bateman's treachery also had a distinctly silly side.—
Ryan Coleman,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In the Television Academy's Miami Vice oral history, Johnson revealed the show’s cutting-edge content was made possible by simple subterfuge.—
Declan Gallagher,
Entertainment Weekly,
13 Apr. 2026
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The trio went to great lengths to perpetrate the subterfuge, the indictment claims, including using hair dryers to remove packaging labels that were then reaffixed to thousands of fake replica servers.—
Amanda Gerut,
Fortune,
7 Apr. 2026
Noun
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One result of the existing system is that vote tabulations in California go on for weeks, something that frustrates the public and the media, and, in the current atmosphere, helps fuel suspicion of electoral skullduggery.—
Michael Smolens,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 Mar. 2026
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The selection was announced by SMS to Iranians, among whom Mojtaba Khamenei has long had a reputation for skullduggery and power plays.—
Kay Armin Serjoie,
Time,
9 Mar. 2026
Noun
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Obviously, the city knew that people would see through its trickery.—
U T Readers,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
22 Apr. 2026
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Now, there is a little bit of trickery being employed here.—
Alan Bradley,
Space.com,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Of course, the retort is that this would be irritating and exasperating to be continually deluged with alerts about AI deceptiveness.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
24 Aug. 2025
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Beyond the deceptiveness of the narrow material view, spiritual light and hope are always present to be found and felt.—
Sue Brightman,
Christian Science Monitor,
3 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Other throwaways made it on the list thanks to Bieber’s gamesmanship or Billboard’s methodological quirks.—
Mikael Wood,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Apr. 2026
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Maybe Brown kept the pick-and-rolls, the dribble hand-offs, the give-and-go actions tucked as a form of gamesmanship so as to not tip his hand entering the playoffs.—
Kristian Winfield,
New York Daily News,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Mike Bowman, designer, furniture industry expert, and director of marketing for Harmonia Living, says this trend relies on furnishings to bring artfulness to a space—rather than just functionality.—
Patricia Shannon,
Better Homes & Gardens,
10 Jan. 2026
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There is a real seriousness to the score — the scheming bad-guy music has the artfulness of Prokofiev, and even the sneaking-around cues have musical integrity and structure.—
Tim Greiving,
Vulture,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Chicanery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/chicanery. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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