1
as in magic
the art or skill of performing tricks or illusions for entertainment
the illusionist's show is an entertaining blend of legerdemain and over-the-top showmanship
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2
as in deception
the use of clever underhanded actions to achieve an end
the reduction of the deficit is due in part to financial legerdemain that masks the true costs of running the government
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Recent Examples of legerdemain
Serious people should know what an older version of antisemitic denialism was all about: a steady stream of factual nitpicks, logical inversions and rhetorical legerdemain meant to obfuscate and deny the greatest crime in history.
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Bret Stephens, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024
Flashbacks disclose Silva and Jack’s young and crazy past through a bit of cinematic legerdemain: A drunken, dissolute barrier-busting orgy with whores and wine that reenacts a bawdy scene from Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 Oct. 2023
But this moment—and the final passage of the IRA itself—shows how the Senate’s rules have devolved the legislative process into an inscrutable whirligig of procedural legerdemain.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2022
His team is developing the bioreactor that performs the legerdemain.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 May 2018
See all Example Sentences for legerdemain 
Bret Stephens, The Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2024
Flashbacks disclose Silva and Jack’s young and crazy past through a bit of cinematic legerdemain: A drunken, dissolute barrier-busting orgy with whores and wine that reenacts a bawdy scene from Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.
—Armond White, National Review, 27 Oct. 2023
But this moment—and the final passage of the IRA itself—shows how the Senate’s rules have devolved the legislative process into an inscrutable whirligig of procedural legerdemain.
—Matt Ford, The New Republic, 9 Aug. 2022
His team is developing the bioreactor that performs the legerdemain.
—IEEE Spectrum, 22 May 2018
See all Example Sentences for legerdemain
Recent Examples of Synonyms for legerdemain
Noun
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That didn’t stop him from falling in love with the craft after his first glimpse of live magic on a cruise at age 13.Justin Birnbaum, Forbes, 25 Dec. 2024
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What started as a simple parade down Main Street U.S.A. has evolved into a global celebration of Disney magic.Jenzia Burgos, StyleCaster, 25 Dec. 2024
Noun
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In firing off nuclear threats, Putin is burnishing his role as a master of deception.Kevin Holden Platt, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
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This is a game of deception after all, and everyone is in on it.Alejandra Gularte, Vulture, 18 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The company summoned all its acoustical trickery to target the sound so that music and podcasts almost seem to appear in your head for intimate yet airy performance.Ryan Waniata, WIRED, 9 Dec. 2024
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But sometimes, all that’s required to open up a room is a little visual trickery: A coat of paint in the right shade can instantly make even the most cramped kitchen feel airy and bright.Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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In the past, Yellowstone characters have pulled off relatively elaborate acts of subterfuge and scheming with multilayered plans that need lots of arguing and surprise twists and time — like, several episodes’ worth of time.Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 16 Dec. 2024
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This content, much of it clearly generated by AI rather than intended to deceive—a medium of crude self-expression, not sophisticated subterfuge—may have been the technology’s biggest impact on the 2024 presidential election.Matteo Wong, The Atlantic, 10 Dec. 2024
Noun
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The eternal fight for liberty — slaves into gladiators, gladiators into free men — calls for courage and purpose beyond Lucius’s nightmarish expectations, uncovering the treachery and chicanery of Roman politics.Armond White, National Review, 6 Dec. 2024
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Hosted by Alan Cumming, the game of treachery and deceit returns to Peacock on Thursday, January 9th.Anne Easton, Forbes, 31 Oct. 2024
Noun
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The eternal fight for liberty — slaves into gladiators, gladiators into free men — calls for courage and purpose beyond Lucius’s nightmarish expectations, uncovering the treachery and chicanery of Roman politics.Armond White, National Review, 6 Dec. 2024
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After eight episodes of legal and emotional chicanery, a jury finds Rusty Sabich not guilty of murdering his lover, Carolyn Polhemus.Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 25 July 2024
Noun
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There are many reasons beyond cheating and skulduggery that someone might root or modify their Android device.Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 30 July 2024
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And so the tale of how the Giants established themselves at the Polo Grounds is told, accurately enough, as a piece of complicated capitalist skulduggery in which the team’s desperate owner bought a controlling interest in the Baltimore Orioles and then dragged its stars north.Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 25 Mar. 2024
Noun
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David slayed the giant with a slingshot; Esther by her cunning saved her people.Gwen Faulkenberry, arkansasonline.com, 12 Dec. 2024
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Over time, guile took on the connotation of deceitful cunning in English, emerging in Middle English around the 12th century.Erik Kain, Forbes, 1 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Legerdemain.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/legerdemain. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024.
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