stratagem
/ˈstɹæt.ə.d͡ʒəm/
stratagem noun: a tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
Noun
stratagem (countable and uncountable, plural stratagems)
- A tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
- Near-synonyms: ploy, ruse
- Tis pollicie and ſtratageme muſt doo / That you affect, and ſo muſt you reſolue, / That vvhat you cannot as you vvould atchiue, / You muſt perforce accompliſh as you may: […]c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas...
- Specifically, such a tactic or artifice in military operation.
- His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.
As if he now deuiſ’d some Stratageme:
Or meant to pierce Auernus darkſome vauts.
To pull the triple headed dog from hell.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.
- Military deception or artifice.
- Cunning and artifice in general.
- A violent deed.
stratagem meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Malayalam
stratagem in Tamil
- சூழ்ச்சித்திட்டம்
stratagem in Marathi
- a stratagem or tactical move employed to achieve an objective
- डाव ḍāva
stratagem in Urdu
- چال, داؤں, گھات
stratagem in Malayalam
- stratagem
- കെണി keṇi
More languagesFewer languages
- stratagem in Kannada
- ಯುಕ್ತಿ, ತಂತ್ರ, ಹಂಚಿಕೆ, ತಂತ್ರಕೌಶಲ
- stratagem in Sanskrit
- पर्याय paryāya
- stratagem in Indonesian
- muslihat, siasat
- stratagem in Thai
- ชั้นเชิง chán-chəəng
Synonyms of stratagem
Forms of stratagem
| plural | stratagems |
|---|
Origin of stratagem
From Middle English stratageme, from Old French stratageme, from Latin strategema, from Ancient Greek στρατήγημα (stratḗgēma, “the act of a general, a piece of generalship”), from στρατηγέω (stratēgéō, “to be a general, command an army”), from στρατηγός (stratēgós, “a general, the leader or commander of an army”). See strategy.
Words formed from stratagem
Questions about stratagem
- What does stratagem mean?
- Stratagem means a tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
- What is stratagem in Tamil?
- Stratagem in Tamil is சூழ்ச்சித்திட்டம். See Stratagem meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is stratagem?
- Stratagem is a noun.
- How do you pronounce stratagem?
- Stratagem is pronounced /ˈstɹæt.ə.d͡ʒəm/ (US).
- What is the plural of stratagem?
- The plural of stratagem is stratagems.
Words near stratagem in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stratagem (page history and authors); stratagem (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); डाव (Marathi) (page history and authors); stratagem (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); കെണി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); stratagem (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); पर्याय (Sanskrit) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-stratagem.wav.
Cite this entry: “stratagem.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stratagem. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.