subterfuge
noun
Simple meaning
An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
suhbterfyoojSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsʌbtɚfjudʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
countable
An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; a blind. Refers especially to war and diplomatics.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; a blind. Refers especially to war and diplomatics.
Used this way, subterfuge is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It criticises, but without shouting.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Critical but measured
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use subterfuge
- “He wasn't sick--it was just a subterfuge.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: indirect or deceptive device or stratagem
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.