Stratageme

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A carefully devised scheme or trick intended to achieve a goal through deception or clever maneuvering
2. A cunning device or maneuver designed to outwit an opponent or accomplish something by indirect means
3. An artful plan or stratagem employed to gain an advantage through guile rather than direct confrontation

Etymology: "Stratageme" is an early modern spelling of "stratagem," and its Greek ancestor "stratēgēma" meant an act of generalship, a military ploy. That in turn came from "stratēgos," a general, built from "stratos," an army, and "agein," to lead. In Athens the strategoi were real officials: ten generals elected each year who commanded the army and navy, so the root sat close to office and command before it came to mean cunning. The Greek sense of deception came through Latin "strategema," which kept the military meaning, and then through Old French, which gave the English spelling with its final "-e." English adopted the form in the 1500s, and it is recorded in writing from roughly that period. Its earliest English uses were largely military, which fits its origin: a stratagem was first a battle plan before it became any trick used to outwit an opponent.