gamesmanship

noun

games·​man·​ship ˈgāmz-mən-ˌship 

1

: the art or practice of winning games by questionable expedients without actually violating the rules

2

: the use of ethically dubious methods to gain an objective

Synonyms

• artifice
• chicane
• chicanery
• hanky-panky
• jiggery-pokery
• jugglery
• legerdemain
• skulduggery
• skullduggery
• subterfuge
• trickery
• wile

Examples of gamesmanship in a Sentence

They blur the line between gamesmanship and cheating.

that author doesn't go in for literary gamesmanship, so the reader is never led astray by the novel's narrator

Recent Examples on the Web

After some gamesmanship from Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins, the NBA retroactively upgraded Draymond Green’s take foul on Zach Edey from Friday night’s game to a Flagrant 1. —Danny Emerman, The Mercury News, 17 Nov. 2024

Receiver Puka Nacua participated in two jog-throughs this week and is listed as questionable for Thursday night, but that seems like pure gamesmanship. —Gary Klein, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2024

Jahns: The Bears’ decision to feature Taylor only as the new 12th man on a kickoff as the holder for Santos against the Texans in the Hall of Fame Game was some fun gamesmanship. —Kevin Fishbain, The Athletic, 9 Aug. 2024

Frank also said that Leonard’s status was not an effort of gamesmanship with the series against the Mavericks starting. —Law Murray, The Athletic, 23 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

games, plural of game entry 1 + -manship (after sportsmanship)

Note: A word popularized and probably originated in this sense by the British author Stephen Potter (1900-69) in The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship (1947).

First Known Use

1947, in the meaning defined at sense 1