legerdemainnoun [ U ]
/ˌledʒ.ə.dəˈmeɪn//ˌledʒ.ɚ.dəˈmeɪn/formalskilful hiding of the truth in order to trick people:
The survey suggests nearly half the electorate believes the president won through electoral legerdemain.
skilful tricks done as part of a performance:
There are traditional acts of legerdemain with bright scarves and floating balls.
More examples
- Workers staged a 24-hour strike to denounce what they characterize as official legerdemain with inflation data.
- It's a supreme bit of architectural legerdemain: a curving tower doing what should be, for a building, the impossible.
- He cuts her hair on stage with a little stage legerdemain.
- Mediums were made to insert their hands in shoeboxes during seances, to prevent any sly legerdemain.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Sly & devious
- artful
- backdoor
- calculating
- calculation
- conniving
- conspiratorial
- cunning
- devious
- disingenuous
- fox
- foxy
- guile
- scheme
- sleight of hand
- sneaky
- trick
- tricky
- underhand
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Magic
Synonym
sleight of hand