legerdemain

Meaning

1. Sleight of hand; "magic" trickery.
2. A show of skill or deceitful ability.

Synonyms

jugglery

magic

🪄

sleight of hand

deception

juggling

trick

magic trick

conjuration

illusion

conjuring trick

prestidigitation

thaumaturgy

hocus-pocus

conjuring

thimblerig

sleightof- hand

flimflam

mesmerism

trickery

fast one

sleight-of-hand

Hyphenated as

leg‧er‧de‧main

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌlɛd͡ʒ.ə.dɨˈmeɪn/

Etymology

From Middle English legerdemeyn, lechardemane, from Old French léger de main (literally “light of hand”), a phrase that meant “dexterous, skillful at fooling others (especially through sleights of hand”), which was however treated as a noun when it was borrowed by late Middle English. The Modern French descendant léger de main of the Old French phrase is archaic but still sometimes found in older literature and simply means “skillful” without any connotation of sleight of hand.