A clever plan or trick used to deceive an enemy or achieve a difficult goal, especially in war or competition.
From Greek 'strategema,' derived from 'strategus' (a military general), from 'stratos' (army) and 'agein' (to lead). The word traveled through Latin to English.
The Trojan Horse is the most famous stratagem in history—the Greeks hid soldiers inside a wooden horse that the Trojans wheeled inside their gates! Military strategists still study this 3,000-year-old trick because it perfectly combines deception with psychological manipulation.
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