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Definition of ploy noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

ploy

noun
 
/plɔɪ/
 
/plɔɪ/
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  1. words or actions that are carefully planned to get an advantage over somebody else synonym manoeuvre
    • a clever marketing ploy
    • ploy to do something It was all a ploy to distract attention from his real aims.
    • ploy for doing something a ploy for deflecting criticism
    Extra Examples
    • Don't take any notice of her—it's just a ploy.
    • It was a deliberate ploy to smear his opponents.
    • Maybe it's a ploy to throw us off our guard.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • clever
    • effective
    • good
    verb + ploy
    • resort to
    • try
    • devise
    ploy + verb
    • work
    preposition
    • ploy for
    See full entry
    Word Originlate 17th cent. (originally Scots and northern English in the sense ‘pastime’): of unknown origin. The notion of “a calculated plan” dates from the 1950s.
See ploy in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
indeed
adverb
 
 
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