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View synonyms for ploy

ploy

[ ploi ]

noun

  1. a maneuver or stratagem, as in conversation, to gain the advantage.

    Synonyms: gambit, wile, subterfuge, ruse, tactic



verb (used with object)

  1. Military Archaic. to move (troops) from a line into a column. Compare deploy.

verb (used without object)

  1. Military Archaic. to move from a line into a column.

ploy

/ plɔɪ /

noun

  1. a manoeuvre or tactic in a game, conversation, etc; stratagem; gambit
  2. any business, job, hobby, etc, with which one is occupied

    angling is his latest ploy

  3. a frolic, escapade, or practical joke


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Other Words From

  • counter·ploy noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of ploy1

1475–85; earlier ploye to bend < Middle French ployer ( French plier ) < Latin plicāre to fold, ply 2; deploy

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Word History and Origins

Origin of ploy1

C18: originally Scot and northern English, perhaps from obsolete n sense of employ meaning an occupation

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Example Sentences

Is this just a ploy by the Islamic State—or the beginning of the road to retaking Mosul?

The head of the prison says Figueroa fabricated the story as a ploy to get the Dutchman transferred.

Do they really not look around them when they hit the shutter, or is it all part of a ploy to attract more attention?

But when it becomes a transparent ploy for fame it drives fans away.

That brassy ploy had caught the Costa Ricans entirely off-guard and had knocked them off their stride.

And so destroy our only defences; it is, indeed, a wise ploy!

I give you the old word, Elrigmore: 'Claymore and the Gael '; for the rest—pardon me—you gentlemen are out of the ploy.

Na, na—his Excellency ken'd nought o' that ploy—it was a' managed atween Rashleigh and mysell.

I don't think he went on to describe any—it was mostly a ploy on my part to curry him or make him feel more at ease.

There is a misprint of 'employ' in Thomas Davies' edition, as before.

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