Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Subterfuge
Sub′ter-fuge
,Noun.
[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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Subterfuge
SUB'TERFUGE
,Noun.
Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument.
Definition 2024
subterfuge
subterfuge
English
Noun
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?
- 2012 March 1, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, 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
indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; blind
deception