ploy

CEFRC1

/plɔɪ/

noun · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A clever action used to gain an advantage.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Sport; frolic.

Examples

  • His sudden resignation was just a political ploy.

  • The free T-shirt is really a ploy to get you inside to see their sales pitch.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
4
Parts of speech
2
Citations
3
Synonyms
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A tactic, strategy, or scheme.

verb

Extra meaning

  1. To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision.

More examples

In context

  • His ploy almost succeeded.

  • Tom's ploy almost succeeded.

  • Near-synonyms: ruse, stratagem, device

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

His blank to avoid work was to pretend he was sick every morning.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Possibly from a shortened form of employ or deploy. Or from earlier ploye, from Middle English, borrowed from Middle French ployer (compare modern plier), from Latin plicāre.