strategy

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈstræt.ə.dʒi/, US /ˈstræt̬.ə.dʒi/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French stratégie (16th century),^[2][3][4] and directly from Ancient Greek στρατηγία (stratēgía, “office or command of a general”),^[2][3][5] from στρατηγός (stratēgós, “general”),^[2][3] from στρατός (stratós, “army, multitude”) and ἀγός (agós, “leader”), from ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).^[2][3] Stratós probably first meant “that which is spread out”, a camping army, from Proto-Indo-European *stere- (“to spread”);^[2][3] the verb is from Proto-Indo-European *ag- (“to drive, lead”).^[2] It is related to stratagem, strew and agent.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A province under a strategus, in Greek history: 1688, in the OED.^[7] The Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins dates the word to the early 16th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

In Greek, stratēgía was the office of a general, and later a province governed by a strategos;^[6] because a commander plans the larger movements of a campaign, the word had come to mean this planning by the late 18th century.^[6] The military sense, the art of a commander-in-chief, is first recorded in English in 1810, in Charles James's Military Dictionary.^[3][7][2] A particular strategy is from 1833,^[2][7] and transferred, non-military use from 1837 in the OED^[7] or 1887 in Etymonline.^[2] The sense in game theory is from 1944.^[7] The adjective strategic is from 1825.^[3]

Timeline

• 1688 – a Greek province.^[7]
• 1810 – the art of a general.^[3][7][2]
• 1825 – strategic.^[3]
• 1833 – a particular strategy.^[2][7]
• 1838 – strategist.^[3]
• 1944 – in game theory.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The science and art of planning and directing large-scale military operations.
2. A plan of action designed to achieve a long-term goal.
3. The skill of making or carrying out such plans.
4. In game theory, a set of rules for a player's moves.

Word family

• counterstrategy
• geostrategy
• strategic
• strategics
• strategist

Related words

• stratagem
• tactics
• strew
• agent
• stratum

Usage notes

Strategy is often confused with tactics, which are the means of carrying out a plan;^[6] stratagem, from the same Greek root, has meant a trick or ploy since the mid-16th century.^[6]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press