ploy

«ploy» in Mova's school dictionary: A clever trick or plan used to get an advantage or to… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (a ploy, ploys)

meaning for a pupil

A clever trick or plan used to get an advantage or to make someone do something. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, games and advertising, a ploy is a sneaky plan: a "free gift" can be a ploy to make you buy more. In sport, a ploy is a tactic to fool the other side. Media literacy lessons teach children to spot marketing ploys.

examples

• The "free" toy was a ploy to get us to buy more cereal. tree →
• Pretending to be ill was a ploy to miss the test. tree →
• The team used a clever ploy to win the ball. tree →
• The fox's ploy was to flatter the crow. tree →
• Adverts use ploys to make you want things. tree →
• His ploy didn't work; Mum saw through it. tree →

note

Countable. Short, informal-neutral word. Similar: trick, tactic, scheme. In shop maths, a "buy 3 for the price of 2" offer only saves money if you actually need 3.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «ploy» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.