chicanery

Etymology

From French chicanerie (“trickery”), from chicaner.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɪˈkeɪn(ə)ɹi/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

chicanery (countable and uncountable, plural chicaneries)

1. Deception by use of trickery, quibbling, or subterfuge.
   • 1823, Charles Lamb, “Popular Fallacies”, in Elia, new edition, London: Edward Moxon, published 1835, page 241:

     They do not always find manors, got by rapine or chicanery, insensibly to melt away, as the poets will have it ; or that all gold glides, like thawing snow, from the theif’s hand that grasps it.

2. (countable, law) A slick performance by a lawyer.