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