subterfuge
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Middle French subterfuge, from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugiō (“I flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugiō (“I flee”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
subterfuge (countable and uncountable, plural subterfuges)
- (countable) An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; a blind. Refers especially to war and diplomatics.
- Overt subterfuge in a region nearly caused a minor accident.
- 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest, →ISBN, →OCLC:
- How’s the spy hunt going? Uncovered any subterfuge?
- 2012 March, William E. Carter with Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 February 2012, page 87:
- But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.
- (uncountable) Deception; misrepresentation of the true nature of an activity.
- 2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42:
- I have been critical of the RDG in the past for merely being a cypher for government announcements, but the failure of its members to make a stand on this issue and not be complicit in the Government's subterfuge is a shocking indictment of their failure to protect the industry.
Translations edit
indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; blind
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deception
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
French edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugiō (“to flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugio (“to flee”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
subterfuge m (plural subterfuges)
- subterfuge
- Synonym: stratagème
Further reading edit
- “subterfuge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin edit
Verb edit
subterfuge