as in ruses
a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end
tried various stratagems to get the cat into the carrier, but the feisty feline was wise to them all
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Recent Examples of stratagems
There are some other fun stats in there, including a ranking of the game's most popular stratagems.
—
Ian Stokes, Space.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Ian Stokes, Space.com, 3 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stratagems
Noun
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The New York Colored American reported that some offers of short-term work for Black men — moving livestock to or from Kentucky, for example — were ruses that ended with kidnappings.—
Equal Justice Initiative,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
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Many suspect a spam call and don't pick up the phone, leading foundation staff to sometimes devise ruses.—
Kelly Meyerhofer,
jsonline.com,
8 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Madigan, meanwhile, was convicted in a separate trial of an array of schemes that included the ComEd bribery payments.—
Jason Meisner,
Chicago Tribune,
14 Apr. 2026
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Butterfly Jam revolves around a teenager growing up in New Jersey’s Circassian community, with dreams of becoming a wrestler, whose life takes an unexpected turn when one of his father’s misguided schemes goes wrong.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
14 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Prosecutors say the pair threw two devices containing the explosive TATP and shrapnel, but the jar-sized bombs failed to detonate.—
Erica Byfield,
NBC news,
16 Apr. 2026
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This nifty little Anker portable power bank can juice up small devices (think AirPods, iPads, and phones) in a pinch.—
Abbey Hudetz,
Travel + Leisure,
16 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Payment processors grew suspicious despite Cotter’s tricks, and by 2020 the US Postal Inspection Service had launched an investigation.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
13 Apr. 2026
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The mother-daughter duo coordinated in shades of cream and brown, with Charlotte even borrowing some of her mom's styling tricks (both wore the British brand Self-Portrait, for example).—
Emma Banks,
InStyle,
12 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stratagems.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stratagems. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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