- ploy, gambit, stratagem - a maneuver in a game or conversation
--1 is a kind of maneuver, manoeuvre, tactical maneuver, tactical manoeuvre
- contrivance, stratagem, dodge - an elaborate or deceitful scheme contrived to deceive or evade; "his testimony was just a contrivance to throw us off the track"
--2 is a kind of scheme, strategy
--2 has particulars: plant; pump-and-dump scheme; wangle, wangling