legerdemain
Sleight of hand; "magic" trickerySleight of hand; "magic" trickery.
» Such changes are nothing more than the artist's legerdemain.
Solche Veränderungen sind nichts anderes als künstlerische Taschenspielertricks.
Meaning
2 senses(uncountable, usually)Sleight of hand; "magic" trickery.
ло́вкость рукlóvkostʹ ruk
(broadly, uncountable, usually)A show of skill or deceitful ability.
- an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
Examples
2 sentencesSuch changes are nothing more than the artist's legerdemain.
deSolche Veränderungen sind nichts anderes als künstlerische Taschenspielertricks.
All you need is a little legerdemain in your accounting to make people think your company is profitable.
Translations
4 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English legerdemeyn, lechardemane, from Old French léger de main (literally “lFrom Middle English legerdemeyn, lechardemane, from Old French léger de main (literally “light of hand”), a phrase that meant “dexterous, skillful at fooling others (especially through sleights of hand)”, which was however treated as a noun when it was borrowed by late Middle English. The Modern French descendant léger de main of the Old French phrase is archaic but still sometimes found in older literature and simply means “skillful” without any connotation of sleight of hand.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: legerdemains| Singular | legerdemain |
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uncountable
Synonyms
32 synonyms- an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers:magic trickconjuring tricktrickmagicconjurationthaumaturgyillusiondeception
Word family
1 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable