strategy

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek στρατηγία (stratēgía, office of general, command, generalship), from στρατηγός (stratēgós, the leader or commander of an army, a general), from στρατός (stratós, army) + ἄγω (ágō, I lead, I conduct).

Pronunciation

Noun

strategy (countable and uncountable, plural strategies)

  1. The science and art of military command as applied to the overall planning and conduct of warfare.
  2. A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal.
    • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
      “I came down like a wolf on the fold, didn’t I ?  Why didn’t I telephone ?  Strategy, my dear boy, strategy. This is a surprise attack, and I’d no wish that the garrison, forewarned, should escape. …”
    • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:
      Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close [] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.
  3. (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) The use of advance planning to succeed in politics or business.

Usage notes

  • Verbs often used with "strategy": drive, follow, pursue, execute, implement, adopt, abandon, accept, reject, create.

Synonyms

Coordinate terms

  • (an art of using similar techniques in politics or business): tactics

Derived terms

Translations

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See also

Further reading

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