🎤 A comic act 🍰 A small piece 🃏 A trick

shtik

9.9

A clever trick used to cheat or fool someone

noun
/ʃtɪk/

Slang

: trampa

Don't fall for that old shtik—it's just another scam.

Examples

She realized too late that the business proposal was just a clever shtik.
She pulled a clever shtik to avoid paying the cover charge.
He always tries to impress people with some kind of shtik.
That was a clever shtik to get out of the meeting.
He always has a new shtik up his sleeve.
That old shtik of pretending to sell fake watches is just a scam.
The magician's final shtik left the audience astounded.

Synonyms

cheating

vsshtik

187 2.1

An act of tricking someone to get an unfair advantage

often denotes a clever sly trick rather than general dishonest behaviour

trickery

vsshtik

27 4.9

To use dishonest ways to cheat people

is a single sly act done cleverly to cheat someone

schtick

vsshtik

Informal

1 9.5

A dishonest trick someone uses to get an advantage

is more sly and clever rather than mainly humorous

Antonyms

honesty

365 1.0

Being truthful and fair in what you say and do

fair play

16 3.0

Honest behavior that treats everyone the same and follows the rules in sport or competition

How Deceptive

fraud

577 4.0

con

Informal

107 7.2

to scheme

14 6.5

shtik

Slang

9.9

to trick

326 3.5

ruse

53 7.7

ploy

85 4.9

Surface Forms

shtik singular

shtiks plural

Etymology

Shtik comes from Yiddish and the German word Stück, which means 'piece'. Think of a small 'piece' of clever action someone shows to fool others, so shtik can mean a tricky act or scam.