We have hardly any words that do so fully expresse the French clinquant, naiveté … chicaneries. So lamented English writer John Evelyn in a letter to Sir Peter Wyche in 1665. Evelyn and Wyche were members of a group called the Royal Society, which had formed a committee emulating the French Academy for the purpose of "improving the English language." We can surmise that, in Evelyn's estimation, the addition of chicanery to English from French was an improvement. What he apparently didn't realize was that English speakers had adopted the word from the French chicanerie before he wished for it; the term appears in English manuscripts dating from 1609. Similarly, clinquant ("glittering with gold or tinsel") dates from 1591. Naïveté, on the other hand, waited until 1673 to appear.
He wasn't above using chicanery to win votes.
that candidate only won the election through chicanery
Recent Examples on the WebThat, of course, is classic Trump chicanery: to dangle an outrageous accusation in a Truth Social post, in order to distract voters from focusing on the alleged possession of classified documents in his Florida home.—David McGrath, Orlando Sentinel, 15 June 2024 Actually getting energy from Jupiter to the Earth will take a little bit of orbital chicanery.—Paul Sutter, Ars Technica, 16 Apr. 2024 It’s revealed that Maddie actually proposed, which suggests that Kory, with his sassy leading question, is somehow complicit in the multidimensional chicanery and/or this script was not even given a cursory review by a human being.—Rachel Handler, Vulture, 15 Mar. 2024 Early warning satellites that are essential for any response to a nuclear launch could be duped or hijacked, potentially eroding the stability of nuclear deterrence—such chicanery could even lead countries to launch unprovoked strikes in response to fictitious threats.—Erica Lonergan, Foreign Affairs, 7 Sep. 2023 See all Example Sentences for chicanery
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Word History
Etymology
borrowed from French chicanerie "quibbling on minor points of law brought up to complicate a judicial case," going back to Middle French chiquanerie, from chicaner "to dispute by means of quibbles," earlier "to sue, prosecute" + -erie-ery — more at chicane entry 1
Note:
Randle Cotgrave's French-English dictionary (1611) defines chicanerie as "wrangling, pettifogging; litigious, or craftie pleading; the perplexing of a cause with trickes; or the pestering thereof with (subtile, but) impertinent words."
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