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Artful vs Ploy - What's the difference?

artful | ploy |

As an adjective artful

is performed with, or characterized by, art or skill.

As a noun ploy is

a tactic, strategy, or gimmick.

As a verb ploy is

(military) to form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision.

artful

English

Alternative forms

* (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Performed with, or characterized by, art or skill.
  • Artificial; imitative.
  • Using or exhibiting much art, skill, or contrivance; dexterous; skillful.
  • Cunning; disposed to cunning indirectness of dealing; crafty; as, an artful boy. [The usual sense.]
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012
    • , date=June 29 , author=Kevin Mitchell , title=Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau , work=the Guardian citation , page= , passage=Where the Czech upstart Rosol, ranked 100 in the world, all but blew Nadal's head off with his blunderbuss in a fifth set of unrivalled intensity on Thursday night, Benneteau, a more artful citizen, used a rapier to hurt his vaunted foe before falling just short of a kill. In the end, it was he who staggered from the scene of the fight. }}

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * artful dodger * artfully * artfulness

    ploy

    English

    Etymology 1

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tactic, strategy, or gimmick.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
  • (UK, Scotland, dialect) Sport; frolic.

    • Etymology 2

    Probably abbreviated from deploy.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (military) To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision.
    • (Wilhelm)
    Antonyms
    * deploy (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

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