subterfuge

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
It had been as if she looked on that as a kind of subterfuge--almost as a form of disloyalty.

View all »
Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A deceptive stratagem or device: "the paltry subterfuge of an anonymous signature” (Robert Smith Surtees).

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • International convention mandates a uniform to distinguish a soldier from a non-combatant, but for a guerilla for whom stealth and subterfuge are assets as he weaves through the population, this can be an encumbrance. —  Ministry of Defence - Sri Lanka (MOD)
  • He failed entirely in the attempt to reproduce the story given him, and used the talk about the Titanic disaster as a subterfuge--as a ready means of escape from the difficulty in which he found himself He himself threw some light upon the part played by his craving for self-esteem in his statement: "When I tell of all these big things it makes me feel that I'm a little above the common herd of negroes." —  Studies in Forensic Psychiatry
  • It had been as if she looked on that as a kind of subterfuge--almost as a form of disloyalty. —  The Golden Bowl — Complete
  • "Now that I have duly scolded you, I am willing to laugh at a subterfuge which is not without cleverness. —  Study of a Woman
  • The spin and subterfuge are there to obtain a goal. —  A View from Middle England by Arden Forester
 

Tags

subterfuge hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 412 times.

1 person has marked this word as a favorite.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

deception ·  evasion ·  stratagem ·  artifice ·  ruse ·  trickery ·  dissimulation ·  sophistry ·  guile ·  chicanery ·  hypocrisy ·  pretense

Used in the same contextWord Family

subterfuge:   subterfuges
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. 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.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from P. subterfuge = Spanish Portuguese subterfugio = Italian sutterfugio, from Late Latin subterfugium, a subterfuge, from Latin subterfugere, flee by stealth, escape, avoid, from subter, secretly, + fugire, flee.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ˈsəbtərfjudʒ/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

auguries · accrue · bantams · modish · champions

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket