-ploy-

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ploy /plɔɪ/   n. [countable]

1. a maneuver, usually a trick, to gain an advantage;
   gambit.

See -ploy-.
-ploy-, root. 

1. -ploy- comes from French and ultimately from Latin, where it has the meaning "bend;
   fold;
   use;
   involve.'' It is related to -plic-. This meaning is found in such words as: deploy, employ, employee, employer, employment, ploy.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

ploy  (ploi), n. 

1. a maneuver or stratagem, as in conversation, to gain the advantage.

v.t. 

2. Military to move (troops) from a line into a column. Cf. deploy. 

v.i. 

3. Military to move from a line into a column.

• Latin plicāre to fold, ply²; see deploy
• Middle French ployer (French plier)
• earlier ploye to bend 1475–85

Synonyms

• 1. tactic, ruse, subterfuge, wile, gambit.