Subterfuge /(?)/

Sub·ter·fuge

Subterfuge

n.
  1. That to which one resorts for escape or concealment; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion.
    Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument.
    By a miserable subterfuge, they hope to render this position safe by rendering it nugatory.