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# stratagem

«stratagem» in Mova's school dictionary: **A clever plan or trick to get what you want or to fool an…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a stratagem, stratagems)

### meaning for a pupil

A clever plan or trick to get what you want or to fool an enemy. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

A word for plans in stories, games and history. In The Wind in the Willows Badger's stratagem is to enter Toad Hall by the secret tunnel while the weasels feast; Toad uses many stratagems to escape prison. The Trojan Horse was a famous stratagem in Greek legend. In chess and sport, a stratagem is a smart plan.

### examples

- The secret tunnel was Badger's stratagem. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x1)
- The Trojan Horse was a famous stratagem. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x2)
- Toad's stratagem was to dress as a washerwoman. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x3)
- The fox used a stratagem to get the cheese. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x4)
- Her chess stratagem surprised her older brother. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x5)
- The general thought of a stratagem to cross the river. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x6)
- It is wiser for me to resort to stratagem and come upon my enemies unawares. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/#x7)

### note

Countable noun, a bit formal. Spelling: strat-a-gem (not -egy). Related but different: «strategy» (a long plan); a stratagem is one clever trick.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «stratagem» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/stratagem/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.