trick

n.

1. A deceit

   wile, casuistry, fraud, deception, ruse, cheat, cover, feint, hoax, artifice, decoy, trap, stratagem, intrigue, fabrication, double-dealing, forgery, fake, illusion, invention, subterfuge, distortion, delusion, ambush, snare, blind, evasion, plot, equivocation, concealment, treachery, swindle, imposture, feigning, impersonation, dissimulation, duplicity, pretense, falsehood, falsification, perjury, disguise, conspiracy, machination, circumvention, quibble, trickery, conundrum, beguiling, chicane, chicanery, humbug, simulacrum, maneuver, sham, counterfeit, gyp*, touch*, phoney*, come-on*, fast one*, dodge*, plant*, clip*, sucker*, deal*, con game*, bluff*, shakedown*, sell-out*, con*, funny business*, dirty work*, crooked deal*, front*, fakeroo*, gimmick*, suck-in*; see also lie 1.

   Antonyms honesty*, truth*, veracity. *

2. A prank

   jest, sport, practical joke; see joke 1.

3. A practical method or expedient

   skill, facility, know-how*; see ability 2, method 2.

4. A round of cards

   deal, hand, round, shuffle.

trick is the common word for an action or device in which ingenuity and cunning are used to outwit others and implies deception either for fraudulent purposes or as a prank; ruse applies to that which is contrived as a blind for one's real intentions or for the truth her apparent illness was merely a ruse to gain time; a stratagem is a more or less complicated ruse, by means of which one attempts to outwit or entrap an enemy or antagonist military stratagems; maneuver, while specifically applicable to military tactics, in general use suggests the shrewd manipulation of persons or situations to suit one's purposes a political maneuver; artifice stresses inventiveness or ingenuity in the contrivance of an expedient, trick, etc. artifices employed to circumvent the tax laws; wile, often used in the plural, implies the use of allurements or beguilement to ensnare used all his wiles and cunning to close the deal

do<strong> or </strong>turn the trick

trick

v.