Word.ws English Dictionary

stratagems

US/ˈstɹæt.ə.d͡ʒəmz/

stratagems is the plural of stratagem.

Meaning of stratagem

Noun

stratagem (countable and uncountable, plural stratagems)

  1. A tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.
    • Near-synonyms: ploy, ruse
    Synonyms:
    ploy, ruse
  2. 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...
  3. (uncountable) Military deception or artifice.
  4. (uncountable) Cunning and artifice in general.
  5. (obsolete) A violent deed.

Questions about stratagems

What is stratagems the plural of?
Stratagems is the plural of stratagem.
How do you pronounce stratagems?
Stratagems is pronounced /ˈstɹæt.ə.d͡ʒəmz/ (US).

Words near stratagems in the dictionary

  1. stratagematist
  2. stratagematists
  3. stratagemic
  4. stratagemical
  5. stratagemically
  6. stratagems
  7. stratal
  8. stratally
  9. stratarchical
  10. stratarchies
  11. stratarchy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stratagems (page history and authors); stratagem (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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Cite this entry: “stratagems.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stratagems. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.