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Monday November 21, 2005

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subterfuge \SUB-tur-fyooj\ , noun:
A deceptive device or stratagem.

In the end, however, all the stealth and subterfuge were for naught, as the young publicity agent couldn't keep the secret.
-- Larry Tye, The Father of Spin

She has also complained . . . that the reporter used subterfuge to interview her, pretending to be the mother of an inmate.
-- Roy Greenslade, "Filthy rags", The Guardian, January 11, 2001

He is adept at subterfuge, at gaining entry to factories by masquerading as a laborer, a wholesaler, an exporter.
-- Jonathan Silvers, "Child Labor in Pakistan", The Atlantic, February 1996

Subterfuge comes from Late Latin subterfugium, "a secret flight," from Latin subterfugere, "to flee in secret, to evade," from subter, "underneath, underhand, in secret" + fugere, "to flee." It is related to fugitive, one who flees.

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for subterfuge

 

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