Words / C1

PLOY/plɔɪ/

A ploy is a cunning plan to gain an advantage: a marketing ploy, a delaying ploy. Plan is everyday and neutral; tactic (already in the dictionary) is a planned move; a trick is more openly dishonest. Do not relabel a leak as a “soft launch” ploy in the minute.

Meaning

A cunning plan used to gain an advantage.

Examples

• “Calling the leak a “soft launch” was a ploy, not a protocol.”
• “Plan is everyday. Tactic is close and often legitimate. A ruse is literary. Strategy is the larger map. If the embargo was broken, the name you give it afterwards does not unbreak it.”

Good to know

A tactical trick. Everyday: plan. Close: tactic (already in the dictionary). Relabelling a leak is still a leak.

Near in meaning

tactic

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