strategy

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

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstɹætədʒi/

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 art of using similar techniques in politics or business.

See also

• long game

Further reading

• strategy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• strategy in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• strategy at OneLook Dictionary Search