chicanery.

Dishonest methods used to gain an advantage, especially by misleading others about rules or facts.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• legal chicanery
• political chicanery

On the page

The inquiry exposed chicanery hidden inside an apparently lawful arrangement.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common.