stratagem
noun /ˈstrætədʒəm/
/ˈstrætədʒəm/
(formal)- a trick or plan that you use to gain an advantage or to trick an opponent
- to adopt a clever stratagem
- He deployed various cunning stratagems.
Word Originlate 15th cent. (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’.