intrigue

Definition

A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to effect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem.

Etymology

Borrowed from French intrigue, from Italian intricare, from Latin intrīcō (“I entangle, perplex, embarrass”). Doublet of intricate.

Example Sentences

• "[…] lost in such a jungle of intrigues, pettifoggings, treacheries, diplomacies domestic and foreign […]"
• "I often used to smile at a young Ensign of the Guards, who always popped [pawned] his sword and watch when he wanted cash for an intrigue; […]"
• "Morality at Delli is at as low an ebb as in the far interior of Brazil, and crimes are connived at which would entail infamy and criminal prosecution in Europe. While I was there it was generally asserted and believed in the place, that two officers had poisoned the husbands of women with whom they were carrying on intrigues, and with whom they immediately cohabited on the death of their rivals."