tac·tics

(tăk′tĭks)

a. (used with a sing. verb) The study of the most effective ways of securing objectives set by strategy, as in deploying and directing troops, ships, and aircraft against an enemy.

b. (used with a pl. verb) Military actions or maneuvers used against an enemy: Guerrilla tactics were employed during most of the war.

2. (used with a sing. or pl. verb) A procedure or set of maneuvers engaged in to achieve an end, an aim, or a goal.

[New Latin tactica, from Greek taktika, matters pertaining to arrangement, or from Greek taktikē (tekhnē), (art) of deploying forces in war, both from taktikos, of order, from taktos, arranged, from tassein, tag-, to arrange.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

tactics

(ˈtæktɪks)

pl n

1. (Military) (functioning as singular) military the art and science of the detailed direction and control of movement or manoeuvre of forces in battle to achieve an aim or task

2. (Military) the manoeuvres used or plans followed to achieve a particular short-term aim

[C17: from New Latin tactica, from Greek ta taktika the matters of arrangement, neuter plural of taktikos concerning arrangement or order, from taktos arranged (for battle), from tassein to arrange]

tacˈtician n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

tac•tics

(ˈtæk tɪks)

n.

1. (used with a sing. v.) the science or art of deploying military or naval forces and maneuvering them in battle.

2. (used with a pl. v.) the maneuvers themselves.

3. (used with a pl. v.) any maneuvers for gaining advantage.

[1620–30; < Greek taktikḗ]

tactics

The employment and ordered arrangement of forces in relation to each other. See also procedures; techniques.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005.

tactics

1. the art or science of disposing or managing military forces to best advantage against the enemy.
2. a skill or resource management in other contexts.

tactics

[ˈtæktɪks] NPL (gen) (Mil) → táctica fsing
to change tactics → cambiar de táctica
delaying tactics → tácticas fpl dilatorias
scare tactics → tácticas fpl para infundir miedo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

tactics

n sing (= art, science, Mil) → Taktik f; (fig also) → Taktiken pl

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

tactics

[ˈtæktɪks] n & npl → tattica
strong-arm tactics → le maniere forti

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

tactics

(ˈtӕktiks) noun plural

(sometimes in singular) the art of arranging troops, warships etc during a battle, in order to win or gain an advantage over one's opponents. They planned their tactics for the election/game/meeting.

ˈtactical adjective

of or concerned with tactics or successful planning. a tactical advantage.

ˈtactically adverb

tacˈtician (-ˈtiʃən) noun

a person who is good at tactics or successful planning.

tactics

→ تَكْتِيك taktika taktik Taktik τακτική táctica taktiikka tactique taktika tattica 戦術 전술 tactiek taktikk taktyka tática тактика taktik ยุทธวิธี taktik chiến thuật 战术

Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

In a few short years he revolutionized, not the strategy or tactics of sea-warfare, but the very conception of victory itself.

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But Stremov, who had felt stung to the quick at the last sitting, had, on the reception of the commission's report, resorted to tactics which Alexey Alexandrovitch had not anticipated.

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The latter conducted himself like a past-master in the art of flattery: he admired all Monk's tactics, and the ordering of his camp, he joked very pleasantly upon the circumvallations of Lambert's camp, who had, he said, very uselessly given himself the trouble to inclose a camp for twenty thousand men, whilst an acre of ground would have been quite sufficient for the corporal and fifty guards who would perhaps remain faithful to him.

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Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.

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First of all the horse, for at that time the strength and excellence of the army depended on the horse, for as to the heavy-armed foot they were useless without proper discipline; but the art of tactics was not known to the ancients, for which reason their strength lay in their horse: but when cities grew larger, and they depended more on their foot, greater numbers partook of the freedom of the city; for which reason what we call republics were formerly called democracies.

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For a week Wingrave pursued the same tactics, and at the end of that time he had made twenty thousand dollars.

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(Charles was anxious to fasten the scandal on Germany.) Then, changing his tactics, he said roughly: "I suppose you realize that you are your sister's protector?"

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I have had some opportunities of studying the conditions under which Nietzsche is read in Germany, France, and England, and I have found that, in each of these countries, students of his philosophy, as if actuated by precisely similar motives and desires, and misled by the same mistaken tactics on the part of most publishers, all proceed in the same happy-go- lucky style when "taking him up." They have had it said to them that he wrote without any system, and they very naturally conclude that it does not matter in the least whether they begin with his first, third, or last book, provided they can obtain a few vague ideas as to what his leading and most sensational principles were.

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Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse to earthly tactics, and swinging my right fist full upon the point of his chin I followed it with a smashing left to the pit of his stomach.

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And although a complete proof of this latter cannot be shown, nevertheless there was some evidence of it at the battle of Ravenna, when the Spanish infantry were confronted by German battalions, who follow the same tactics as the Swiss; when the Spaniards, by agility of body and with the aid of their shields, got in under the pikes of the Germans and stood out of danger, able to attack, while the Germans stood helpless, and, if the cavalry had not dashed up, all would have been over with them.

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And all these proposals, based on strategics and tactics, contradict each other.

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It's the exact knowledge they have as to our dispositions, our most secret and sudden change of tactics. We've suffered enough, Ambrose, in this country from civil spies--the Government are to blame for that.

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Noun	1.	tactics - the branch of military science dealing with detailed maneuvers to achieve objectives set by strategy military science - the discipline dealing with the principles of warfare armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"
	2.	tactics - a plan for attaining a particular goal manoeuvre, tactic, maneuver plan of action - a plan for actively doing something