legerdemain
Other forms: legerdemains
When a magician waves his hands over a hat and pulls out a rabbit, he is performing an act of legerdemain or trickery.
Legerdemain can be used literally to describe a magic trick, or figuratively to describe some other kind of trickery or deceit. If you and some friends cook up a scheme that involves telling complicated lies so that you can stay out all night, you are guilty of legerdemain. The word comes from the French léger de main which means dexterous, or light of hand.
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an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observerssynonyms: conjuration, conjuring trick, deception, illusion, magic, magic trick, thaumaturgy, tricktypes:card tricka trick performed with playing cardstype of:performancethe act of presenting a play or a piece of music or other entertainment
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Vocabulary lists containing legerdemain
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