stratagem

plural stratagems

1. countableuncountableA tactic or artifice designed to gain the upper hand, especially one involving underhanded dealings or deception.

   Near-synonyms: ploy, ruse

   3 more examples

   Tis pollicie and ſtratageme muſt doo / That you affect, and ſo muſt you reſolue, / That vvhat you cannot as you vvould atchiue, / You muſt perforce accompliſh as you may: […]

   c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], signature [C4], verso

   She will not yet be permitted to return to the Manor House: it is too convenient for 'treasons, stratagems,' &c.; and it is as well not to be put in the way of temptation: but she will be allowed perfect liberty in London.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Friend at Court”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 265

   While Collins does include a love triangle, a coming-of-age story, and other YA-friendly elements in the mix, they serve as a Trojan horse to smuggle readers into a hopeless world where love becomes a stratagem and growing up is a matter of basic survival.

   2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, AV Club, The Hunger Games, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2012

   Synonyms: ploy, ruse

2. countableuncountableSpecifically, such a tactic or artifice in military operation.

   His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth. As if he now deuiſ’d some Stratageme: Or meant to pierce Auernus darkſome vauts. To pull the triple headed dog from hell.

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii

3. uncountableMilitary deception or artifice.
4. uncountableCunning and artifice in general.
5. countableobsoleteuncountableA violent deed.