artifice

Noun

US[ahr-tuh-fis]/ˈɑrtəfɪs/3 syllables

Synonyms: ruse

Open English WordNet

a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture)Synonyms: ruseType of maneuver, manoeuvre

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Ar′ti·fice (…), noun

Origin: L. artificium, fr. artifex artificer; ars, artis, art + facere to make: cf. F. artifice.

1. A handicraft; a trade; art of making. obsolete

2. Workmanship; a skillfully contrived work.

The material universe... in the artifice of God, the artifice of the best Mechanist.— Ralph Cudworth

3. Artful or skillful contrivance.

His [Congreve's] plots were constructed without much artifice.— George Lillie Craik

4. Crafty device; an artful, ingenious, or elaborate trick. [Now the usual meaning.]

Those who were conscious of guilt employed numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry.— Thomas Babington Macaulay

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54