Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A deceptive stratagem or device: "the paltry subterfuge of an anonymous signature” ( Robert Smith Surtees).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. That to which a person resorts for escape or concealment; a shift; an evasion; artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument.
- n. Synonyms Shift, etc. (see evasion), excuse, trick, quirk, shuffle, pretense, pretext, mask, blind.
Wiktionary
- n. countable An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; a blind. Refers especially to war and politics.
- n. uncountable Deception; misrepresentation of the true nature of an activity.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion.
WordNet 3.0
- n. something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity
Etymologies
- Late 16th century. Directly or via French from late Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugio ("I flee secretly"), from subter ("under") and fugio ("I flee"). (Wiktionary)
- French, from Old French suterfuge, from Late Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugere, to escape : subter, secretly, beneath; see upo in Indo-European roots + fugere, to flee. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Regarding archives being deleted, it seems to me that a little subterfuge is required here, if you think your blog/newspaper is going to be bought out by megacorp, burn a copy on disc, say nothing, and take it home.”
“Despite what Zachriel may think, subterfuge is not an Olympic event.”
“More subterfuge is discovered, and in the end, the unicorn with the Jewel of Judgement appears.”
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: The Great Book of Amber - Roger Zelazny
“But I don't mean to suggest that this is some form of deceit: it seems to me that the people fooled by this subterfuge are the people presenting the ID case themselves.”
“It doesn't have anything to add and can only dabble in subterfuge.”
“Indeed, if Obama, Reid and Pelosi use what can only be called subterfuge to pass the health care bill, what will they be emboldened to do next?”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Is the Slaughter Solution constitutional?
“Thank you, HBM for referring to all that which can only remain subterfuge.”
“The subterfuge was the Ethiopians putting the war lords back into power in Somolia.”
Think Progress » The U.S. has launched air strikes in Somalia
“The only character who sees through the subterfuge is the ex-CIA agent, abandoned by his country, whose life of dirty deeds on behalf of The Company prepares him alone to understand his role and dig his way out.”
“So the only way to get in there was to use -- using subterfuge, which is what I did.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘subterfuge’.
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POL - scandalous (single words only)
acolyte, archrival, backhander, backlash, baksheesh, bashing, boo, bribery, cadre, chicanery, clash, coercion and 256 more...
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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Naresh_Special
portent, organically, malicious, sham, olfactory, vertebrates, protuberance, sensilla, flagitious, pleonastic, exiguous, wayward and 102 more...
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POL - scandalous (words and collocati...
Words and collocations associated with political scandal
blow the whistle, boo, cronyism and rigging, democratic deficit, denigrate, dirty linen, fiasco, finger pointing a..., graft, hidden account, hush money, illicit financing... and 578 more...
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This is not a list
you know that thing where the Eskimos have 50 words for snow?
little white lie, big lie, the Big Lie, economical with t..., muddy the waters, fabrication, deception, lies, damned lies..., façade, slander, omission, web of lies and 164 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-HU - important words for a HU inte...
Words only (I left out the expressions) from Geza Kerenyi's EN-HU interpreters' dictionary. Most of them pose some difficulty when interpreted between HU and EN in either or both directions.
abalone, abrasive, abstractionist, abstruse, abysmal, academia, accessibility, accessible, acclimate, accolade, accompanist, achiever and 1469 more...
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NTDW2
yawp, amidships, smug, jounce, fallow, conscionable, polyp, whit, nouveau riche, palatial, encomiastic, exchequer and 182 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
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GRE Study guide
Going through the Magoosh website, words I pulled from the verbal section. 2012.
magnanimous, correlate, anglicized, simulacrum, tantamount, obsequiousness, subterfuge, vehement, vociferous, benign, concomitant, veracity and 83 more...
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Outwardly secondary
vitiate, compenetrate, ingeminate, prolific, philoprogenitive, diaphaneity, diaphanous, saturnine, tepidness, inanity, knavery, adumbrate and 2 more...
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just neat
insolent, redolent, clammy, chunder, berate, vainqueur, neotony, milquetoast, semprini, twaddle, plethora, enteron and 29 more...
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mckenna
rusticate, eschaton, sonata, plenum, adumbration, shockwave, peregrination, manifold, ingression, dross, negrato, crenulated and 30 more...
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gre words
convoluted, deride, melancholy, antagonize, antagonize, deference, portentous, prodigious, ruminate, ineffable, turgid, mossy and 58 more...
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try to use now and then
exacerbate, inveterate, obviate, verbose, exasperate, disingenuous, squit, ingenue, Opiate, opioid, revile, decrepit and 14 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for subterfuge.
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