ploy
/plɔɪ/
ploy noun: a tactic, strategy, or scheme.
Noun
ploy (countable and uncountable, plural ploys)
Verb
ploy (third-person singular simple present ploys, present participle ploying, simple past and past participle ployed)
- To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision.
- Troops drawn up so as to show an extended front, with slight depth, are said to be deployed; when the depth is considerable and the front comparatively small, they are said to be in ployed formation.1881, Thomas Wilhelm, A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer
- Antonyms:
- deploy
ploy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
ploy in Hindi
- a ploy, gimmick, or tactic
- तिगड़म tigṛam
ploy in Tamil
- சூழ்ச்சி
ploy in Malayalam
- tactic, ruse, move
- തന്ത്രപൂർവ്വമായ നീക്കം, ഡക്ക്, സൂത്രം, കൗശലം, അടവ്, തായം
ploy in Kannada
- ಹೂಟ, ತಂತ್ರ, ಹಂಚಿಕೆ
Examples of ploy in a sentence
- As a ploy to discredit the reformist politician, the opposing party had hired a lookalike to act as his evil twin and be seen in a variety of compromising situations.
- There were underhanded ploys that were effective but were deplored by the hospital administration.
- Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans.
Synonyms of ploy
Antonyms
Forms of ploy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ploys |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ploys |
| present participle | ploying |
| past participle | ployed |
| past | ployed |
Origin of ploy
Possibly from a shortened form of employ or deploy. Or from earlier ploye, from Middle English, borrowed from Middle French ployer (compare modern plier), from Latin plicāre.
Probably abbreviated from deploy.
Words formed from ploy
Words that rhyme with ploy
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- JOI
- joy
- alloy
- Amoy
- cloy
- convoy
- deploy
- goy
- oi
- overjoy
- travois
- ahoy
- annoy
- catboy
- Choi
- foxboy
- foy
- Hanoi
- hoi polloi
- kathoey
- poi
- Saint Croix
- soy
- Sukhoi
- accoy
- bok choy
- cocky's joy
- diaperboy
- doy
- Floy
- hoi
- hoo, boy
- hoy
- killjoy
- Kilroy
- koi
- loy
- man and boy
- noy
- oe
- oy
- pick-me boy
- ploye
- po' boy
- puppyboy
- Savoie
- stroy
- sugoi
Questions about ploy
- What does ploy mean?
- Ploy means a tactic, strategy, or scheme.
- What is ploy in Hindi?
- Ploy in Hindi is तिगड़म (tigṛam). See Ploy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ploy?
- Ploy can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ploy?
- Ploy is pronounced /plɔɪ/.
- What is the plural of ploy?
- The plural of ploy is ploys.
Words near ploy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ploy (page history and authors); तिगड़म (Hindi) (page history and authors); ploy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ploy (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ploy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ploy.wav.
Cite this entry: “ploy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ploy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.