Stratagem

Definition: Stratagem

Stratagem

Noun

1. A maneuver in a game or conversation.

2. An elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "stratagem" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references)

Etymology: Stratagem \Strat"a*gem\, noun. [French expression stratag[`e]me (Compare to Spanish estratagema, Italian stratagemma), from Latin expression strategema, Greek, from to be leader of an army, from general; an army (probably as being spread out; compare to Stratum) to lead. See Agent.]. (Websters 1913)

Literature

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Stratagem

Cunning

Art, artifice; device, machination; plot; (plan); maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile; trick, trickery; (deception); ruse, ruse de guerre; finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion; white lie; (untruth); juggle, tour de force; tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers; espieglerie; net, trap.

Deception

Trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite; card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck; artful dodge, swindle; tricks upon travelers; stratagem; (artifice); confidence trick, fake, hoax; theft; ballot-box stuffing barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game; shell game, thimblerig; skin game.

Plan

Contrivance, invention, expedient, receipt, nostrum, artifice, device; pipelaying; stratagem; (cunning); trick; (deception); alternative, loophole; shift; (substitute); last shift; (necessity).

Crosswords: Stratagem

Bertie's Stratagem (1915)

Mrs. Van Ruyter's Stratagem (1914)

Slippery Slim's Stratagem (1914)

The Wife's Stratagem (1914)

A Girl's Stratagem (1913)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

References

• Stratagem Group PLC: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference)

  (more reference examples)

Books

• 18Th-Century Women Dramatists: The Innocent Mistress/the Busybody/the Times/the Belle's Stratagem (Oxford English Drama) (reference)

• Sakura's Stratagem (reference)

• Stratagem rex (reference)

• The beaux stratagem, 1707 (reference)

• The Soulbane Stratagem (reference)

  (more book examples)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Pah-Ghee's stratagem. Credit: Library of Congress.

Miss Fay Bainter in The Beaux Stratagem, the Players' Production, 1928. Credit: Library of Congress.

American frontier life: the hunter's stratagem. Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Ending with "stratagem": counter-stratagem.

Albanian

manovër (drilling, maneuver, manoeuvre), dredhi lufte. (various references)

Arabic 

‏حيلة (artifice, deceit, device, dodge, expedient, fetch, finesse, fraud, gag, imposition, makeshift, monkey business, ploy, prank, ruse, sleight, stalking horse, subterfuge, trick, twist, wile), ‏خدعة حربية, ‏خدعة (artifice, deception, dodge, fetch, fraud, gag, hoax, ploy, ruse, sleight, subterfuge, trick, wile), ‏براعة فى الخداع. (various references)

Bulgarian 

хитрост (archness, art, artfulness, artifice, deceitfulness, device, dodge, finesse, game, guile, overreach, policy, ruse, shrewdness, slyness, trick), военна хитрост. (various references)

Chinese 

計策 , 策略. (various references)

Czech

lest (artifice, ruse, subterfuge, trick, wile), úskok (dodge, game, jink, ruse, shift, subterfuge, trick, trickery, wile). (various references)

Dutch

slimmigheidje (ruse, trick), slimmigheid (ruse, trick), list (ruse, trick), kneep (ruse, subterfuge, trick, trickery). (various references)

Esperanto

ruzaĵo (ruse, trick). (various references)

Farsi 

لشکراراءی , حیله جنگی (Train), تمجید (Plaudit), تدبیرجنگی . (various references)

Finnish

sotajuoni. (various references)

French

stratagème. (various references)

German

List (artfulness, artifice, craftiness, cunning, guile, ploy, ruse, shift, stealth, subterfuge, trick, wile, wiles). (various references)

Greek 

στρατήγημα (maneuver, manoeuvre). (various references)

Hebrew 

תחבול�" (artifice, expedient, fetch, finesse, hatch, machination, mean, ruse, scheme, shift, subterfuge, thingumajig thingumabob, trick, wile), תכסיס (manner of conduct, ploy, shift, strategy, tactics, trick), טכסיס (design, device, scheme, trick). (various references)

Hungarian

hadicsel, furfang (art, astuteness, cod, cunning). (various references)

Indonesian

muslihat. (various references)

Italian

stratagemma (artifice, concoction, device, fetch, ploy, ruse, trick), astuzia (artfulness, astuteness, cunning, guile, leeriness, ruse, sharpness, shrewdness, slyness, slynesses, trick, wangling, wile, wiliness), artificio (artifice, device, guile). (various references)

Japanese Kanji 

謀略 (plot, scheme, strategy, trick). (various references)

Japanese Katakana 

ぐ�"ばい (military leader's fan, tactics, wrestling umpire's fan), ぼうりゃく (plot, scheme, strategy, trick), さくりゃく (scheme, tactic, trick), けいりゃく (administration, plan, plot, rule, trick), け�"ぼう (forgetfulness, good batting, ploy, scheme). (various references)

Korean 

책략 (Deceit). (various references)

Manx

crout (calculation, craftiness, trick). (various references)

Pig Latin

atagemstray

Portuguese

estratagema (artifice, coup, craftiness, device, elusion, feint, fetch, finesse, fraud, maneuver, manoeuvre, ruse, subterfuge, trick, trickery, wile), astúcia (art, artfulness, astuteness, craft, craftiness, cunning, dodge, double, invention, ruse, slyness, trick, trickery, tweak, wile), artimanha (cunning, guile, jape, snare, subterfuge, trick, trickery, tweak, wile), artifício (artifice, claptrap, come-off, device, fetch, flam, fraud, gimmick, inventiveness, maneuver, manoeuvre, practice, put-off, scheme, subterfuge, trick, trickery). (various references)

Romanian

stratagemã (trick, wheeze), vicleşug (art, dodge), truc (catch, device, dodge, fake, fetch, jugglery, knack, pass, trick, wheeze), chichiţã (evasion, shift, subterfuge), şiretlic (catch, device, fake, ruse, sharp practice, shift, shuffle, trick, trickery, wile). (various references)

Russian 

хитрость военная, хитрость (archness, artfulness, catch, circumvention, craft, craftiness, double, fetch, finesse, guile, management, slyness, stealth, subtlety, trick, trickery, trickiness, wile, wiliness). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian

ratno lukavstvo (countermine), ratna varka. (various references)

Spanish

estratagema (contrivance, device, feint, frame up, opening gambit, plant, practice, ruse, trick, wile). (various references)

Swedish

knep (art, artifice, catch, chicanery, contrivance, device, dodge, fetch, finesse, game, gimmick, hoax, jiggery pokery, knack, ruse, sell, shift, subterfuge, trick, trickery, wiles, wrinkle). (various references)

Turkish

savaş hilesi, kurnazlık (archness, art, artfulness, artifice, arts, astuteness, craftiness, cunning, dodge, finesse, foxiness, guile, shenanigan, shiftiness, slyness, smartness, strategy, subtility, subtlety, trick, wheeler-dealing, wheeling and dealing, wiliness, wrinkle). (various references)

Ukrainian

во�"нна хитрість. (various references)

Vietnamese 

mưu mẹo (artifice, ruse, trepan, trick, tricky, wile), mưu (snare, wheeze). (various references)

strategema. (various references)

astutia, astutiam, astutias, fallacia, fallaciam, vaframentum. (various references)

stratag�me. (various references)

Derivations

Words beginning with "stratagem": stratagems. (additional references)

Misspellings

"Stratagem" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Estalagem, Schraagen, statagem, stratage, stratagen, stratagm, stratege, strategem, strategen, strategm, stratgem. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

-1 letter: megastar, regattas.

-2 letters: gastrea, matters, regatta, regmata, smatter, targets, teargas.

-3 letters: agates, armets, attars, gamers, gamest, gaster, gramas, grates, greats, marges, master, maters, matres, matter, mattes, ramate, ramets, reatas, retags, stager, stater, strata, stream, tamers, tamest, targes, target, taster, tatars, taters, tetras, treats.

-4 letters: agars, agate, agers, agmas, areas, armet, aster, atmas, attar, gamas.

+1 letter: magistrate, sterigmata, stratagems, termagants.

+2 letters: magistrates, scattergram.

+3 letters: fragmentates, magistrature, scattergrams, thaumaturges, transmigrate.

+4 letters: epigrammatist, magistratures, thaumaturgies, transmigrated, transmigrates.

+5 letters: argumentations, epigrammatists, fragmentations.