lexicow

strategy

/ˈstrætədʒi//ˈstrætədʒi/·noun
I watch a little marker sit at the mouth of a maze, and before it takes a single step, faint ghost-routes flicker out ahead down every fork — most of them fading as they run into dead ends. Only one stays lit, the line that actually reaches the far flag, and the marker finally commits and walks it. It never just guesses and goes; it looks all the way to the end first, and that patience is the part I admire.
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Definition

A strategy is a plan built to reach a major goal — one that looks ahead and weighs how each move will play out against obstacles or an opponent. The word comes from the Greek stratēgia, 'generalship': the art of the commander who plans the whole campaign, not just the next skirmish. Unlike a fixed scheme of parts laid out once, a strategy chooses among possible paths and tries to anticipate the response to each, keeping the end always in view.

Examples

  • The company's marketing strategy was to win over younger users before its rivals could react.
  • A grandmaster's strategy reaches a dozen moves ahead, not just to the next capture.
  • Without a coherent strategy, the team's efforts pulled in three different directions at once.

Collocations

a long-term strategy·a marketing strategy·devise a strategy·a coherent strategy·an exit strategy

Synonyms

plan·approach·tactic·game plan·blueprint

Antonyms

improvisation·guesswork

Word family

strategic (adjective)·strategically (adverb)·strategist (noun)

In TOEFL & IELTS

A high-frequency academic noun for essays on business, politics, and the environment — 'a long-term strategy', 'devise a strategy' move straight into Writing Task 2. Note the shift in stress and vowel to the adjective strategic (/strəˈtiːdʒɪk/) and the noun strategist. Don't confuse strategy (the overall plan) with tactic (a single move serving it) — examiners notice the distinction.