Synonyms of gambits

gambits

noun

plural of gambit

as in ruses

a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end

I couldn't tell whether her earlier poor-mouthing had been sincere or just a gambit to get me to pick up the dinner check

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ruses
• schemes
• devices
• tricks
• stratagems
• sleights
• ploys
• artifices
• wiles
• dodges
• jigs
• shenanigans
• gimmicks
• sleights of hand
• plays
• knacks
• bluffs
• juggles
• deceptions
• subterfuges
• fetches
• feints
• trickeries
• duplicities
• chicaneries
• flimflams
• hoaxes
• swindles
• crafts
• cunnings
• end runs
• juggleries
• frauds
• gaffs
• duperies
• fakeries
• skulduggeries
• crookeries
• fronts
• cozenages
• smoke screens
• blinds
• legerdemains
• shams

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of gambits

The international tourist trade — a key source of Hollywood foot traffic — had a tough 2025 amid the fires and Trump’s foreign and trade policy gambits. — Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2026

The Texas and California gambits were the first moves in an elaborate game of gerrymandering chess between the White House and Jeffries. — Jason Zengerle, New Yorker, 18 May 2026

Everything in the movie, from the chomping shark attacks that churn up the waves with Hawaiian Punch foam to the way a humongous great white meets her fate at the end, takes an obvious page from Steven Spielberg’s gambits and techniques. — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 11 Apr. 2026

But what if all these works were more than just conceptual gambits? — Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 8 Apr. 2026

But there is good reason to think that this time, his gambits may fail. — Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic, 11 Mar. 2026

Prediction market users make their wartime gambits from someplace comfortable and safe, and hope to hit it big off of someone else's misfortune. — Scott Simon, NPR, 7 Mar. 2026

But taken together, along with the cumulative weight of high-level diplomatic gambits to Beijing now underway — and many more on the horizon — something structural is happening that requires attention. — Dewardric L. McNeal, CNBC, 13 Feb. 2026

None of these actions require dramatic announcements or risky gambits. — Sho Dewan, Forbes.com, 27 Jan. 2026