variants
or skullduggery
as in deception
the use of clever underhanded actions to achieve an end
the company's apparently healthy bottom line was merely an illusion, the result of years of accounting skulduggery
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Examples Sentences
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Recent Examples of skulduggery
Schiff’s skulduggery was unfortunate but totally rational under the current system.
—
David Daley, The Mercury News, 14 Mar. 2024
This one went smoothly — no claims of rampant rigging, no significant taint of skulduggery — due in large part to the defeat of deepfakes, democracy’s newest enemy.
—Michael Rogers, Twin Cities, 14 Jan. 2024
In a separate incident of apparent skulduggery in 2007, Belichick was fined a league maximum of $500,000.
—Bill Pennington, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024
And the latest corporate skulduggery requires Murderbot to access its creativity in a whole new way.
—Charlie Jane Anders, Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for skulduggery 
David Daley, The Mercury News, 14 Mar. 2024
This one went smoothly — no claims of rampant rigging, no significant taint of skulduggery — due in large part to the defeat of deepfakes, democracy’s newest enemy.
—Michael Rogers, Twin Cities, 14 Jan. 2024
In a separate incident of apparent skulduggery in 2007, Belichick was fined a league maximum of $500,000.
—Bill Pennington, New York Times, 11 Jan. 2024
And the latest corporate skulduggery requires Murderbot to access its creativity in a whole new way.
—Charlie Jane Anders, Washington Post, 19 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for skulduggery
Recent Examples of Synonyms for skulduggery
Noun
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Watch on Deadline In the wake of his father’s disappearance at sea, Kojo, a young Ghanaian is drawn into a world of street gang and deception.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
14 Jan. 2025
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Directed by Su Biao, the comedy about a woman entangled in financial deception has remained a steady performer since its release on Dec. 31.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
13 Jan. 2025
Noun
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There’s still a lot of baseball chicanery to take place over the next few months, though.—
Grant Brisbee,
The Athletic,
18 July 2024
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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
Noun
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There is a precedent for such scientific subterfuge.—
Henry A. Kissinger,
Foreign Affairs,
18 Nov. 2024
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In an era rife with conspiracy theories and subterfuge, how much of those forces are products of our own doing, perhaps our imagining?—
Dana Feldman,
Forbes,
30 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Calling it his novel is a bit of authorial trickery: Griffin Hurt doesn’t exist.—
Stuart Miller,
Orange County Register,
16 Jan. 2025
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Kari Ferrell’s memoir is a zippy, intimate account of low-level trickery before the era of scams fully erupted.—
Sophie Gilbert,
The Atlantic,
15 Jan. 2025
Noun
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This is political gamesmanship at its worst, planting a trap for lawmakers by exploiting a tragedy.—
Paul Du Quenoy,
Newsweek,
10 Jan. 2025
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Is there a difference between cheating and gamesmanship?—
Alan Shearer,
The Athletic,
27 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Next for Fonseca is Lorenzo Sonego, a 29-year-old Italian who will have to hope that wisdom and guile win out over the exuberance of youth.—
Matthew Futterman,
The Athletic,
15 Jan. 2025
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Getting out doesn’t just require thumb-shredding dexterity, wit, and guile but also — fittingly for its premise — patience.—
Lewis Gordon,
Vulture,
5 Dec. 2024
Noun
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Congressional legerdemain can’t wave away that reality.—
Howard Gleckman,
Forbes,
4 Dec. 2024
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Both activities depended on legerdemain and made elaborate use of optical illusions.—
Jonathon Keats,
Forbes,
23 Sep. 2024
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Thesaurus Entries Near skulduggery
Cite this Entry
“Skulduggery.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/skulduggery. Accessed 28 Jan. 2025.
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