ploy
/plɔɪ
/noun
1A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one’s own advantage: the president has dismissed the referendum as a ploy to buy time...
- It's a clever ploy and takes advantage of the natural courtesy of the public.
- My opponent became increasingly frustrated by my beginner's luck and masterminded a cunning ploy to level the scores.
- If you can get beyond the fact that there's all sorts of contrived controversy thrown into the TV show, and deliberate ploys to create situations that will boost ratings, the level of talent is really pretty amazing.
1.1An activity done for amusement: the eternal cross-stitch I was set to do before I could indulge my own ploys
Origin
Late 17th century (originally Scots and northern English in the sense 'pastime'): of unknown origin. The notion of ‘a calculated plan’ dates from the 1950s.