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subterfuge - 4 dictionary results

sub⋅ter⋅fuge

  [suhb-ter-fyooj]
Use subterfuge in a Sentence
–noun
an artifice or expedient used to evade a rule, escape a consequence, hide something, etc.
Origin:
1565–75; < LL subterfugium, equiv. to L subterfug(ere) to evade (subter below + fugere to flee) + -ium -ium

Synonyms:
deception, scheme, trick, dodge, ruse.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sub·ter·fuge   (sŭb'tər-fyōōj')   
n.  A deceptive stratagem or device: "the paltry subterfuge of an anonymous signature" (Robert Smith Surtees).

[French, from Old French suterfuge, from Late Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugere, to escape : subter, secretly, beneath; see upo in Indo-European roots + fugere, to flee.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Subterfuge

Sub"ter*fuge\, n. [F., from LL. subterfugium, fr. L. subterfugere to flee secretly, to escape; subter under + fugere to flee. See Fugitive.] That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion.

Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument. --I. Watts.

By a miserable subterfuge, they hope to render this position safe by rendering it nugatory. --Burke.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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subterfuge 
1573, from M.Fr. subterfuge, from L.L. subterfugium "an evasion," from L. subterfugere "to evade, escape, flee by stealth," from subter "beneath, secretly" + fugere "flee" (see fugitive).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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