Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A military maneuver designed to deceive or surprise an enemy.
- n. A clever, often underhanded scheme for achieving an objective. See Synonyms at wile.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An artifice in war; a plan or scheme for deceiving an enemy.
- n. Any artifice; a trick by which some advantage is intended to be obtained.
- n. Synonyms and
- n. Artifice, Manæuver. Trick, etc. See artifice.
- n. Deception, plot, trap, device, snare, dodge, contrivance.
Wiktionary
- n. A deceptive tactic designed to gain the upper hand. Typically, involves underhanded dealings and obfuscation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An artifice or trick in war for deceiving the enemy; hence, in general, artifice; deceptive device; secret plot; evil machination.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade
- n. a maneuver in a game or conversation
Etymologies
- From Old French stratageme, from Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek στρατήγεμα (stratēgema, "the act of a general, a piece of generalship"), from strategein ("to be a general, command an army"), from στρατηγός (stratēgos, "a general, the leader or commander of an army"); see strategy. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French stratageme, from Old Italian stratagemma, from Latin stratēgēma, from Greek, from stratēgein, to be a general, from stratēgos, general : stratos, army; + agein, to lead. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Can regulators distinguish this kind of stratagem from the case of fair and justified engineering decisions that happen to cause a little temporary jitter?”
“If this adjustment in stratagem saved the lives or mission of just one crew, I would be thankful to God.”
“The famous Duguesclin is said to have taken the town by stratagem from the English.”
Béarn and the Pyrenees A Legendary Tour to the Country of Henri Quatre
“The word "Strategy" is a military term derives from the Greek word "stratagem" which means”
“The stratagem is related by the author of the Gesta Francorum, the monk Robert Baldric, and Raymond des”
“Our 'stratagem' -- I have always liked the word, ever since I read _Tales of a Grandfather_, which I thought a great take-in, as it's just a history book, neither more nor less, and the only exciting part is when you come upon stratagems -- succeeded.”
“It's a typical Carter stratagem, which is nothing less than a view of the world where musical lines, like individual lives, intersect at changing speeds in endlessly changing contexts and sometimes, maybe only for a moment, come together.”
“To move from theory toward the concrete, for years in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, I've seen Anglo social workers go after certain Chicano families — do so as agents of county officials who have discovered that such a stratagem is a damn good way to intimidate activist Chicano migrants.”
“The stratagem is a good one, and I dare say some hundreds of men will be added to the encamped army, while certain unconscious diplomatists are sipping their coffee, and complacently gazing at these fiery devices.”
Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833
“Here, you see, is a marked case of an appropriation of another's property by a very adroit stratagem, which is fully justified by the Old Testament, and uncondemned by the New.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘stratagem’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, approbation, orator, peroration, Cicero, eloquence, elocution, rhetoric, premeditate, plead, Isocrates and 264 more...
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FUN - Jeeves and Wooster - Jeeves
"Jeevesisms" as heard from the valet Jeeves in P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" stories.
abject, attire, boudoir, be agog to learn, breach of peace, companionship of ..., contract an engag..., correct orifice, determined temper..., edifice, endeavor to ascer..., expatiate and 46 more...
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Them's Fighting Words
annihilate, clandestine, conflagration, enmity, feral, furtive, impede, intrepid, pacify, pugnacious, ruse, stratagem and 5 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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What Do You Mean ?
U Gotta Know These.......
falter, ruddy, flounder, pallid, fumble, founder, labile, titular, tacit, pragmatic, fatalism, jaded and 112 more...
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Good for Academics
Gahh!! Study!
supplant, usurp, finagle, winnow, draconian, abut, collude, swindle, objectify, incite, decadent, obstinate and 327 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Hitch Words
Words from the lexicon of Christopher Hitchens
propinquity, fratricide, factitious, vitiate, sectarianism, ostensible, atavistic, sephardic, doyen, palpable, encephalitic, fastidious and 188 more...
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1st cut
abeyance, abscission, abyss, accretion, acidulous, adulterate, adumbrate, aerie, ameliorate, anachoronistic, analgesia, anodyne and 315 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for stratagem.
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