stratagem
noun
[ ˈstratədʒəm ]
• a plan or scheme, especially one used to outwit an opponent or achieve an end.
• "a series of devious stratagems"
Similar:
plan,
scheme,
tactic,
manoeuvre,
move,
course/line of action,
ploy,
gambit,
device,
wile,
trick,
ruse,
plot,
machination,
subterfuge,
artifice,
contrivance,
expedient,
dodge,
deception,
deceit,
wheeze,
lurk,
shift,
Origin:
late 15th century (originally denoting a military ploy): from French stratagème, via Latin from Greek stratēgēma, from stratēgein ‘be a general’, from stratēgos, from stratos ‘army’ + agein ‘to lead’.
