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DictionarychicaneryDeceptive trickery
noun

chicanery

shi-KAY-nuh-ree/ʃɪˈkeɪnəri/

Trickery used to gain an advantage.

The player's chicanery includes secretly drawing a card from her sleeve.

A card player secretly draws an extra ace from her sleeve while her opponent watches the legitimate cards on the table.
Etymology
chicaneryFrenchtrickery

French chicanerie meant “trickery,” and English first used the word for legal quibbling and petty tricks. Its meaning broadened to deceptive tactics used to gain an advantage.

In context

TPM TV [Archive]0:57
if they use some political chicanery and they do it without having to go back and forth with proper votes
Brown: If Dems Use 'Political Chicanery' To Pass Health Care, They'll Pay In Midterms

More examples

  • She exposed the chicanery behind the rigged contest.
  • The scheme depended on legal chicanery.
  • Voters resented the chicanery used to suppress opposition.

Forms

chicanery

Similar words

deception
Deception is broad; chicanery often involves clever manipulation or procedural tricks.
fraud
Fraud commonly involves deliberate misrepresentation for gain; chicanery can include subtler evasions and tactics.