strategy

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek στρατηγία (stratēgía, “office of general, command, generalship”), from στρατηγός (stratēgós, “the leader or commander of an army, a general”), from στρατός (stratós, “army”) + ἄγω (ágō, “I lead, I conduct”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈstɹæt.ə.d͡ʒi/
- Audio (Southern England) (file)

Noun

strategy (countable and uncountable, plural strategies)

(uncountable) The science and art of military command as applied to the overall planning and conduct of warfare.
- 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎:
  “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. …”
(countable) A plan of action intended to accomplish a specific goal.
- 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 206-7:
  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.
(uncountable) The act of strategizing; the development of effective strategies.

Synonyms

generalship

Coordinate terms

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

Derived terms

coping strategy
exit strategy
strategic
strategics
strategist

Related terms

stratagem
strategus

Collocations

Verbs often used with "strategy"

drive, follow, pursue, execute, implement, adopt, abandon, accept, reject, create

Translations

science and art of military command

Albanian: strategji (sq) f
Arabic: إِسْتْرَاتِيجِيَّة‎ f (ʾistrātījiyya)
Armenian: ռազմավարություն (hy) (ṙazmavarutʿyun)
Azerbaijani: strategiya (az)
Basque: please add this translation if you can
Belarusian: стратэ́гія f (stratéhija)
Bulgarian: страте́гия f (stratégija)
Burmese: မဟာဗျူဟာ (my) (ma.habyuha), စစ်နည်းဗျူဟာ (my) (cacnany:byuha), နည်းဗျူဟာ (my) (nany:byuha)
Catalan: estratègia (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 戰略／战略 (zh) (zhànlüè)
Czech: strategie (cs) f
Danish: strategi c
Dutch: strategie (nl) f
Esperanto: strategio
Estonian: strateegia
Finnish: strategia (fi)
French: stratégie (fr) f
Galician: estratexia f
Georgian: სტრატეგია (sṭraṭegia)
German: Strategie (de) f
Greek: στρατηγική (el) f (stratigikí)
Hebrew: אִסטרָטֶגִיָה‎ (he) f (astratégya)
Hindi: रणनीति (hi) f (raṇnīti)
Hungarian: stratégia (hu), hadászat (hu)
Indonesian: strategi (id)
Italian: strategia (it) f
Japanese: 兵法 (ja) (へいほう, heihō), 戦略 (ja) (せんりゃく, senryaku)
Kazakh: стратегия (strategiä)
Khmer: យុទ្ធសាស្ត្រ (km) (yutthĕəʼsaah)
Korean: 병법(兵法) (ko) (byeongbeop), 전략(戰略) (ko) (jeollyak)
Kyrgyz: стратегия (ky) (strategiya)
Lao: ຍຸດທະສາດ (nyut tha sāt)
Latin: ars bellica
Latvian: stratēģija f
Lithuanian: strategija (lt) f
Macedonian: стратегија f (strategija)
Malay: strategi
Malayalam: തന്ത്രം (ml) (tantraṃ)
Maori: rautaki
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: стратеги (mn) (strategi)
Mongolian: ᠰᠲ᠋ᠷᠠᠲ᠋ᠧᠭᠢ (stratēɣi)
Norman: stratégie f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: strategi (no) m
Nynorsk: strategi m
Persian: راهبرد‎ (fa) (râhbord), استراتژی‎ (fa) (esterâteži)
Polish: strategia (pl) f
Portuguese: estratégia (pt) f
Romanian: strategie (ro) f
Russian: страте́гия (ru) f (stratégija)
Scottish Gaelic: ro-innleachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: стра̀те̄гија f
Roman: stràtēgija (sh) f
Sicilian: stratiggìa f
Slovak: stratégia f
Slovene: strategija (sl) f
Spanish: estrategia (es) f, estrategia (es)
Swedish: strategi (sv) c
Tagalog: patigayon
Tajik: стратегия (strategiya)
Thai: ยุทธศาสตร์ (yút-tá-sàat)
Turkish: strateji (tr)
Turkmen: strategiýa
Ukrainian: страте́гія (uk) f (stratéhija)
Uzbek: strategiya (uz)
Vietnamese: chiến lược (vi)
Yiddish: סטראַטעגיע‎ f (strategye)
Zulu: isu class 5/6, icebo (zu) class 5/6, iqhinga class 5/6

plan of action

Arabic: إِسْتْرَاتِيجِيَّة‎ f (ʾistrātījiyya)
Bulgarian: страте́гия (stratégija)
Burmese: နည်းဗျူဟာ (my) (nany:byuha)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 戰略／战略 (zh) (zhànlüè), 策略 (zh) (cèlüè)
Czech: strategie (cs) f
Dutch: strategie (nl) f
Esperanto: strategio
Estonian: tegevusplaan
Finnish: toimintasuunnitelma (fi)
French: stratégie (fr) f
German: Strategie (de) f
Greek: στρατηγική (el) f (stratigikí)
Hebrew: אַסְטְרָטֶגְיָה‎ (he) f
Hungarian: stratégia (hu)
Interlingua: strategia
Irish: straitéis f (technical)
Italian: strategia (it) f
Japanese: 策略 (ja) (さくりゃく, sakuryaku), 計略 (ja) (けいりゃく, keiryaku), 機略 (ja) (きりゃく, kiryaku)
Latin: strategema, dolus
Malay: strategi
Malayalam: തന്ത്രം (ml) (tantraṃ)
Maori: rautaki
Norman: stratégie f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: strategi (no) m
Nynorsk: strategi m
Persian: راهبرد‎ (fa) (râhbord), استراتژی‎ (fa) (esterâteži)
Plautdietsch: Äwalaj f
Polish: strategia (pl) f
Portuguese: estratégia (pt) f
Romanian: strategie (ro) f
Russian: страте́гия (ru) f (stratégija)
Scottish Gaelic: ro-innleachd f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: стра̀те̄гија f
Roman: stràtēgija (sh) f
Sicilian: stratiggìa f
Spanish: estrategia (es) f
Swahili: mbinu (sw)
Swedish: strategi (sv) c
Tagalog: patigayon
Thai: ยุทธศาสตร์ (yút-tá-sàat)
Turkish: strateji (tr), izlem (tr)
Zulu: isu class 5/6, icebo (zu) class 5/6, iqhinga class 5/6

techniques in politics or business

Arabic: إِسْتْرَاتِيجِيَّة‎ f (ʾistrātījiyya)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 戰略／战略 (zh) (zhànlüè)
Czech: strategie (cs) f
Dutch: strategie (nl)
Estonian: strateegia
Finnish: strategia (fi), strateginen suunnittelu
French: stratégie (fr) f
German: Strategie (de) f
Greek: στρατηγική (el) f (stratigikí)
Hebrew: אַסְטְרָטֶגְיָה‎ (he) f
Hungarian: stratégia (hu)
Italian: strategia (it) f
Japanese: 戦略 (ja) (senryaku), 機略 (ja) (kiryaku), 戦術 (ja) (senjutsu), 策略 (ja) (sakuryaku), 計略 (ja) (keiryaku)
Maori: rautaki
Norman: stratégie f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: strategi (no) m
Nynorsk: strategi m
Persian: راهبرد‎ (fa) (râhbord), استراتژی‎ (fa) (esterâteži)
Portuguese: estratégia (pt) f
Russian: страте́гия (ru) f (stratégija)
Scottish Gaelic: ro-innleachd f
Serbo-Croatian: strategija (sh) f
Sicilian: stratiggìa f
Spanish: estrategia (es) f
Swedish: strategi (sv) c
Tagalog: patigayon
Thai: ยุทธศาสตร์ (yút-tá-sàat)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Telugu: ^{(please verify)} వ్యూహం (te) (vyūhaṁ) (1,2,3)