Strategy

Pronunciation

Origin

From French stratégie, from Latin strategia, from Ancient Greek στρατηγία (stratēgia, "office of general, command, generalship"), from στρατηγός (stratēgos, "the leader or commander of an army, a general"), from στρατός (stratos, "army") + ἄγω (ago, "I lead, I conduct").

Full definition of strategy

Noun

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, w, Lord Stranleigh Abroad Chapter 4, “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, William E. Conner, An Acoustic Arms Race, 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. The art of using similar techniques in politics or business.

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• stratagem

Coordinate terms

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