From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishruseruse /ruːz $ ruːs, ruːz/ noun [countable] TRICK/DECEIVEa clever trick used to deceive someone Agnes tried to think of a ruse to get Paul out of the house.
Examples from the Corpus
ruse• She asked to use the telephone as a ruse to enter the house.• Demonstrating parental behaviour towards infants may be a ruse by which low-ranking males are able to gain mating opportunities.• He wore a fake mustache in a ruse to conceal his identity.• It was just a ruse to get what I wanted!• Or it may have been no more than a ruse to exert pressure and force him to reconsider.• The perverted originality of Iago's ruse, now linked to a cause, thereby loses its lurid gleam.• He no longer carried on the ruse of going up to the swimming pool every day.• The ruse fell apart when Kennedy contacted the supposed letter writers after the sentencing to thank them for their interest.Origin ruse (1400-1500) French Old French ruser; → RUSH1 