Words / C2

shi-KAYN-uh-ree/ʃɪˈkeɪnəri/

Chicanery is clever dishonest trickery, especially legal or political (formal): financial chicanery, a piece of chicanery. Trickery and sharp practice are everyday cousins; chicane is a racing bend — a lookalike. Do not call an honest rounding error chicanery.

Meaning

The use of clever, dishonest tricks, especially in law or politics (formal).

Examples

• “Relabelling a cut as “simplification” was chicanery, not reform.”
• “Trickery is everyday. Fraud is a legal finding; chicanery is the craft of the dodge. A chicane slows cars. If the number was a mistake and corrected, it is an error, not chicanery.”

Good to know

Trickery; legal/political sharp practice. Everyday: trickery. Mix-up: chicane (racing). An honest, corrected error is not chicanery.

Near in meaning

trickery

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