artifice
Other forms: artifices
If a politician pretends to be angry as a way of rousing the anger of the voters and getting more votes, he's guilty of artifice — a subtle and crafty trick.
Before taking on its current meaning, artifice meant a skilled piece of workmanship. A beautiful diamond bracelet might have been considered a piece of artifice, for example; now it would only be called artifice if the diamonds were fake.
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a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture)synonyms: ruse
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Vocabulary lists containing artifice
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The collection of essays known as The Federalist Papers was written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay between 1787 and 1788, under the pseudonym Publius. The writers' main objective was to garner support for the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Federalist No. 1 by Hamilton is both an introduction to and a blueprint for the collection. In this essay, Hamilton considers whether society is capable of forming a just government based on rational choice. Read the full text here.
Tris lives in a society divided into strictly separated factions. Given the chance to change her life, she must keep a dangerous secret from those in power.