subterfuge
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Middle French subterfuge, from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugio (“I flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugio (“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 politics.
- Overt subterfuge in a region nearly caused a minor accident.
- 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest
- How’s the spy hunt going? Uncovered any subterfuge?
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2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist[1], volume 100, number 2, 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.
Translations[edit]
indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; blind
deception
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
French[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Borrowing from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugio (“I flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugio (“I flee”).
Noun[edit]
subterfuge m (plural subterfuges)
Further reading[edit]
- “subterfuge” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Categories:
- English terms derived from the PIE root *bʰewg-
- English terms borrowed from Middle French
- English terms derived from Middle French
- English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- French terms borrowed from Medieval Latin
- French terms derived from Medieval Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French masculine nouns
- French countable nouns
