stratagem Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a maneuver in a game or conversation
    gambit; ploy.
  2. noun an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade
    dodge; contrivance.
    • his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track

WordNet

Strat"a*gem noun
Etymology
F. stratagème (cf. Sp. estratagema, It. stratagemma), L. strategema, Gr. , fr. to be leader of an army, fr. a general; an army (probably as being spread out; cf. Stratum) + to lead. See Agent.
Definitions
  1. An artifice or trick in war for deceiving the enemy; hence, in general, artifice; deceptive device; secret plot; evil machination.
    Fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. Shak.
    Those oft are stratagems which error seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream. Pope.

Webster 1913