subterfuge

English

WOTD – 29 May 2006

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French subterfuge, from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugiō (“I flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugiō (“I flee”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʌbtəɹˌfjuːd͡ʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

subterfuge (countable and uncountable, plural subterfuges)

1. (countable) An indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; a blind. Refers especially to war and diplomatics.

   Overt subterfuge in a region nearly caused a minor accident.

   • 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     How’s the spy hunt going? Uncovered any subterfuge?

   • 2012 March, William E. Carter with Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, Sigma Xi, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 February 2012, page 87:

     But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.

2. (uncountable) Deception; misrepresentation of the true nature of an activity.
   • 1672, [Andrew Marvell], The Rehearsal Transpros’d: Or, Animadversions upon a Late Book, Entituled, A Preface, Shewing what Grounds there are of Fears and Jealousies of Popery., London: [s.n.], →OCLC, pages 57–58:

     But in the mean time […] it looks all ſo like ſubterfuge and inveagling; it is ſo nauſeating and teadious a task, that no man thinks he ovvs the Author ſo much ſervice as to find out the reaſon of his ovvn Categoricalneſs for him.

   • 2023 July 26, Christian Wolmar, “Closing ticket offices to lead to 'catch-22' for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 42:

     I have been critical of the RDG in the past for merely being a cypher for government announcements, but the failure of its members to make a stand on this issue and not be complicit in the Government's subterfuge is a shocking indictment of their failure to protect the industry.

Translations

indirect or deceptive device or stratagem; blind

• Bulgarian: увъртане (bg) n (uvǎrtane), хитруване (bg) n (hitruvane)
• Dutch: truc (nl) m
• Finnish: harhautus (fi), ansa (fi)
• German: Täuschung (de) f, Trick (de) m
• Greek: τέχνασμα (el) n (téchnasma), υπεκφυγή (el) f (ypekfygí)
• Hungarian: fortély (hu), csel (hu), trükk (hu)
• Latin: calumnia f
• Macedonian: мр́дање n (mŕdanje)
• Maori: nuka
• Russian: уло́вка (ru) f (ulóvka), ухищре́ние (ru) n (uxiščrénije)
• Serbo-Croatian: vrdanje (sh) n, izvrdavanje (sh) n, obmana (sh) f
• Ukrainian: виверт (vyvert), викрут (vykrut)

deception

• Bulgarian: измама (bg) f (izmama)
• Dutch: misleiding (nl) f
• Esperanto: artifiko
• Finnish: harha (fi), harhautuminen
• German: Täuschung (de) f
• Hungarian: megtévesztés (hu)
• Macedonian: и́змама f (ízmama)
• Russian: обма́н (ru) m (obmán)
• Serbo-Croatian: izvrdavanje (sh) n, obmana (sh) f
• Ukrainian: обман (obman)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: subterfuge (fr) m (1)
• German: Täuschung (de), List (de), Trick (de)
• Greek: υπεκφυγή (el) f (ypekfygí)
• Italian: sotterfugio (it) m (1,2)
• Portuguese: subterfúgio (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਛਲ (chal), ਬਹਾਨਾ (bahānā); ਢੁੱਚਰਬਾਜੀ (ḍhuccarbājī)
• Spanish: evasiva (es) f, demora (es) f

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin subterfugium, from Latin subterfugiō (“to flee secretly”), from subter (“under”) and fugio (“to flee”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /syp.tɛʁ.fyʒ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

subterfuge m (plural subterfuges)

1. subterfuge

   Synonym: stratagème

Further reading

• “subterfuge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

subterfuge

1. second-person singular present active imperative of subterfugiō