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Subterfuge definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SUB'TERFUGE, n. [L. subter and fugio, to flee.] Literally, that to which a person resorts for escape or concealment; hence, a shift; an evasion; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct.
Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: something intended to misrepresent the true nature of an activity; "he wasn't sick--it was just a subterfuge"; "the holding company was just a blind" [syn: subterfuge, blind]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Late Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugere to escape, evade, from subter- secretly (from subter underneath; akin to Latin sub under) + fugere to flee — more at up, fugitive Date: 1573 1. deception by artifice or stratagem in order to conceal, escape, or evade 2. a deceptive device or stratagem Synonyms: see deception

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a an attempt to avoid blame or defeat esp. by lying or deceit. b a statement etc. resorted to for such a purpose. 2 this as a practice or policy. Etymology: F subterfuge or LL subterfugium f. L subterfugere escape secretly f. subter beneath + fugere flee

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(subterfuges) Subterfuge is a trick or a dishonest way of getting what you want. Most people can see right through that type of subterfuge... N-VAR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Evasion, excuse, shift, artifice, trick, quirk, shuffle, pretence, pretext, mask, sophistry.

Moby Thesaurus

airtight secrecy, alibi, apology, art, artful dodge, artifice, bag of tricks, bamboozlement, befooling, bickering, blind, bluff, bluffing, boggling, bosey, burial, burying, calculated deception, captiousness, catch, caviling, cheat, chicane, chicanery, chouse, circumvention, cloak, close secrecy, closeness, clouding, color, concealedness, concealment, conning, conspiracy, contrivance, coup, cover, cover story, cover-up, covering, covering up, covertness, craft, crypticness, curve, curve-ball, cute trick, darkening, deceit, deceiving, deception, deceptiveness, defrauding, delusion, delusiveness, design, device, dirty deal, dirty trick, discreetness, discretion, dishonesty, dodge, dodging, double-dealing, dupery, enmeshment, ensnarement, entanglement, entrapment, equivocation, evasion, evasiveness, excuse, expedient, facade, fakement, fallaciousness, fallacy, falseness, fast deal, feint, fencing, fetch, ficelle, flimflam, flimflammery, fond illusion, fooling, fraud, front, gambit, game, gimmick, gloss, googly, grift, guise, hairsplitting, hallucination, handle, hedging, hiddenness, hiding, hocus-pocus, hoodwinking, hugger-mugger, hugger-muggery, illusion, interment, intrigue, invisibility, joker, juggle, jugglery, kidding, knavery, lame excuse, little game, locus standi, logic-chopping, maneuver, mask, masking, mirage, move, mystification, nit-picking, obscuration, obscurement, occultation, ostensible motive, outwitting, overreaching, paltering, parrying, pass, pettifoggery, phantasm, plot, ploy, poor excuse, pretense, pretension, pretext, prevarication, protestation, public motive, pussyfooting, put-off, putting away, putting on, quibbling, racket, red herring, refuge, ruse, scheme, screen, screening, scurvy trick, secrecy, secretion, secretiveness, secretness, self-deception, semblance, sham, shift, shifting, show, shuffling, sidestepping, sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, smoke screen, snow job, song and dance, spoofery, spoofing, stalking-horse, stratagem, strategy, swindling, tactic, tergiversation, the dark, trichoschistism, trick, trickery, trickiness, tricking, uncommunicativeness, varnish, veil, victimization, vision, wile, willful misconception, wily device, wishful thinking