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

The legislation died, not because of its content but because of political gamesmanship. —Joanie Schirm, Orlando Sentinel, 2 Feb. 2025

So as uncomfortable as those three games were over the past week, and as uncomfortable as the current stretch of Suspension 2.0 stands for a roster in search of stability, the gamesmanship could endure for another two weeks, if not another three months, if not into the offseason . . . —Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 23 Jan. 2025

Then there’s gamesmanship on top of the operational issues. —Pete Sampson, The Athletic, 29 Aug. 2024

Lukashenko's support for the war in Ukraine has led to the rupture of Belarus' ties with the U.S. and the EU, ending his gamesmanship of using the West to try to win more subsidies from the Kremlin. —CBS News, 26 Jan. 2025

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

Rhymes for gamesmanship

• apostleship
• apprenticeship
• assistantship
• championship
• chancellorship
• citizenship
• companionship
• copartnership
• dictatorship
• directorship
• discipleship
• editorship