trickery

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈtrɪkəri/ UK /ˈtrɪkəri/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
the practice of deceiving or cheating by cunning means

He won the contract through sheer trickery.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the practice of deceiving... deception deceit cunning guile subterfuge chicanery artifice

Opposites

honesty candorstraightforwardness

Word family

Related forms trick trickster trickytrickish

Etymology

From trick (from Old North French trique, from trikier 'to deceive, cheat', of uncertain origin) + the suffix -ery.

trikier Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# trickery

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈtrɪkəri/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈtrɪkəri/

## Meanings
1. the practice of deceiving or cheating by cunning means

## Examples
- He won the contract through sheer trickery.

## Synonyms
- deception
- deceit
- cunning
- guile
- subterfuge
- chicanery
- artifice

## Antonyms
- honesty
- candor
- straightforwardness

## Related Forms
- trick
- trickster
- tricky
- trickish

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: trikier

## Etymology
From trick (from Old North French trique, from trikier 'to deceive, cheat', of uncertain origin) + the suffix -ery.

## AI Etymology
Trickery comes from trick (from Old North French trique, from trikier 'to deceive, cheat', of uncertain origin) + the suffix -ery. The historical chain includes Old French trikier. The quoted older sense, "to deceive, cheat," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for trickery. The formation is best read as suffixal, compound, and borrowed: the word trickery carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "the practice of deceiving or cheating by cunning means". Related English forms include trick, trickster, tricky, and trickish. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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