How to Use stratagem in a Sentence

stratagem

noun
Definition of stratagemnext
Synonyms for stratagemnext
  • This disagreement doomed any stratagem that the large states could have launched.
    — Jack Rakove, WSJ, 16 Sep. 2022
  • And by Monday, after a year of legal stratagems on his part, both charges had been dropped.
    — Max Londberg, kansascity, 24 Oct. 2017
  • Nor is the climactic battle scene that will hinge on a one-chance-in-a-million stratagem.
    — Author: Michael O'Sullivan, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Dec. 2019
  • The authors believed this stratagem to be worse than electoral fool’s gold.
    — Kyle Sammin, Washington Examiner, 12 Nov. 2020
  • The first stratagem of the racist is not to quote Adolph Hitler, or George Wallace, or bad science, or heretical religion.
    — John Archibald | Jarchibald@al.com, al, 16 Jan. 2022
  • When his stratagems work, or simply seem to work, he’s heralded as a genius.
    — Ezra Klein, Vox, 7 Nov. 2018
  • If geopolitics can be likened to a game of chess, there are a finite number of gambits and stratagems available on every board.
    — Vance Serchuk, National Review, 12 Sep. 2019
  • Armed with the insight, Jill tries and fails to rouse him from his slumbers (a sly and symbolic stratagem, involving the family dog).
    — Richard Brod, The New Yorker, 10 Sep. 2021
  • The second stratagem is to close the microscopic pores — stomates — found mostly on the undersides of the leaves.
    — Adrian Higgins, Washington Post, 20 July 2019
  • One of their most effective stratagems was the bankrolling of right-wing primary candidates for House and Senate seats.
    — Bill Hewitt, Washington Post, 23 Aug. 2019
  • Although evocative of a Robert Ludlum thriller, the stratagem is not all that complicated.
    — Carl M. Cannon, Orange County Register, 23 Apr. 2017
  • That's a VERY overblown way of thinking of course, for a lot of different reasons, but the stratagem does have merit, in that the stakes and the story are presented in dramatic fashion.
    — Will Nevin, OregonLive.com, 22 Aug. 2017
  • The switch, after 2010, to defer a big chunk of Mr. Ghosn’s pay was obviously a stratagem to keep him in harness while easing the pressure on French and Japanese politicians.
    — Holman W. Jenkins, WSJ, 21 Dec. 2018
  • Such laws are a cynical stratagem aimed at depriving unions of resources.
    — Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2021
  • While most plants rely on the sun for energy and food, some pursue a strange alternative stratagem: thievery.
    — Douglas Main, Newsweek, 29 Dec. 2016
  • This is a common stratagem, said Dove, the psychology researcher.
    — Cezary Podkul, ProPublica, 13 Sep. 2022
  • The zombie blood stratagem was not employed, keeping the series logical for at least another week.
    — Steve Johnson, chicagotribune.com, 19 Mar. 2018
  • That uncertainty is compounded by the fact that three state legislatures would have to intercede for Trump’s new stratagem to pay off.
    — Ian MacDougall, ProPublica, 20 Nov. 2020
  • These slimy stratagems attracted the attention of the Department of Justice.
    — David Remnick, The New Yorker, 16 July 2019
  • Some had resorted to adding eligible-looking strangers on Facebook, a stratagem unheard-of before the war.
    — Hwaida Saad, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Jan. 2020
  • Kelly is quietly devastating in a scene where Emma is the victim of a cruel stratagem.
    — Don Aucoin, BostonGlobe.com, 11 May 2023
  • And the familiar stratagem: Make mischief with the formula, while still making movies that feel formulaic.
    — John Anderson, WSJ, 9 Feb. 2023
  • The war, which dragged on longer than many viewers liked, turned on a surprising, satisfying plot twist that saw Rick's band go from seeming defeat to victory, even if the stratagem didn't stand up to close analysis.
    — Bill Keveney, USA TODAY, 15 Apr. 2018
  • Wily Odysseus uses the answer as a successful stratagem to escape the Cyclops’ grasp, but, abandoned by the gods and his relatives and friends, Orestes confronts the reality of nullity.
    — Steven G. Kellman, The Christian Science Monitor, 9 June 2017
  • Second, the savings stem from shelter-in-place orders, a novel government stratagem to control a pandemic.
    — Alex Davies, Wired, 27 Apr. 2020
  • As such, the Eagles propose that a team could be granted two opportunities per game to retain possession after a score without having to use the onside kick stratagem.
    — Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 20 Apr. 2021
  • Yet, like Mongol missives zinging over city walls, the government’s threats are at once serious and a stratagem to frighten Hong Kongers into disowning the protesters and suing for peace.
    — The Economist, 29 Aug. 2019
  • Her Covid-19 coping stratagem predictably involves decluttering, but not for the purpose of allaying boredom or even making a germ-free home.
    — Anne Quito, Quartz at Work, 1 Apr. 2020
  • This seemed like a political stratagem (Yang was positioning himself as a candidate who could unite a divided America), but the two stayed in touch.
    — Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker, 19 Sep. 2022
  • Swain has developed a stratagem for diverting attention from his own tender age.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 7 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stratagem.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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