Setup
Trick
Trick noun - A clever often underhanded means to achieve an end.
Mutual synonyms
Both words in one sentence
- It can be a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom... you know it when you see it.
Source: Trope - The Orange Tree trick, for instance is a real trick involving an unbelievably complicated clockwork setup, some sleight of hand, and real oranges pinned to the clockwork tree.
Source: Magicians Are Wizards -
The Powerpuff Girls had HIM invent the "vat of boiling sharks" trick as part of a Knights and Knaves setup.
Source: Shark Pool
Cite this Source
Trick and Setup. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/setup/trick
Setup & Trick. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/setup/trick>.
Trick or Setup. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/setup/trick.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "setup" and "trick" have occurred on timeline