What's the difference between coy and ploy?

Coy


Definition:

  • (a.) Quiet; still.
  • (a.) Shrinking from approach or familiarity; reserved; bashful; shy; modest; -- usually applied to women, sometimes with an implication of coquetry.
  • (a.) Soft; gentle; hesitating.
  • (v. t.) To allure; to entice; to decoy.
  • (v. t.) To caress with the hand; to stroke.
  • (v. i.) To behave with reserve or coyness; to shrink from approach or familiarity.
  • (v. i.) To make difficulty; to be unwilling.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But when you ask Lewis what exactly the Euston Project is, the editor-in-chief, a supremely confident showman, is irritatingly coy.
  • (2) Right now he's working on another sitcom for the BBC – he's coy about what, precisely.
  • (3) He often seems mysteriously amused, cocking an eyebrow and pulling a coy, wouldn’t-you-like-to-know smirk, but he likes to laugh out loud, too.
  • (4) I ll keep one eyes on u spurs hv a good luck this season #COYS 💋🙏👊❤ September 2, 2013 8.51pm BST This is what Assou-Ekotto's got to say about developments.
  • (5) Naomi Gryn with baby Sadie Joy, who was born by elective caesarean on 31 October At first I, too, was coy about telling anyone that I was pregnant.
  • (6) The commercial coyness is long gone, and moves to monetise the audience with new forms of advertising have often provoked backlashes.
  • (7) Asked about his future plans, Götze, whose contract with Bayern runs out in 2017, remained coy.
  • (8) While the Koch brothers remain coy about their candidate preferences, a number of billionaire donors in the Koch network, including hedge fund chieftains Paul Singer and Robert Mercer, have either made large donations to Super Pacs supporting candidates, or are expected to do so.
  • (9) The Labour manifesto is a little more coy: "To encourage freedom of speech and access to information, we will bring forward new legislation on libel to protect the right of defendants to speak freely."
  • (10) He won't reveal much about the new series, beyond a coy, "Well, there's a reunion that doesn't necessarily go to plan.
  • (11) His mother is a lawyer, and although there have been coy references to what his father does (along the lines of "something to do with commodities") he's actually a vice president of Morgan Stanley.
  • (12) But what’s damaging the lives of millions of schoolgirls and women is not daft and coy terms for periods, but being unable to talk about them at all, or being so ashamed that they have to dry their sanitary cloths under the beds or in the damp, getting urinary infections or worse.
  • (13) When asked about their actual prospects in the Senate and House of Representatives, both became coy.
  • (14) I met her, and I can only say that for a couple of hours she was smart, honest and a great talker – there was no fuss, no coyness, no sham and no act.
  • (15) This is idealistic stuff at the heart of his "Communitarian Conservatism" but one increasingly senses that it is theology which really underpins the argument, and that Bond is being coy about his own Anglicanism.
  • (16) Cameron, on the other hand, is less coy about who came out on top.
  • (17) Security and defence officials are coy about what they know of specific attacks.
  • (18) The replication of an avian influenza A, Fowl plague virus (FPV), Ulster 73 strain, was studied in chick embryo fibroblasts, assumed to be the natural host, and in cells of different origin such as LLC-MK2, Hep-2, Vero, KB and Mc Coy.
  • (19) He is coy when asked whether he was also approached about a senior boardroom role at HSBC around the same time, but frank about the choice he faced when the candidate for the RBS job – former Standard Chartered boss Mervyn, now Lord, Davies – pulled out.
  • (20) Chlamydia trachomatis strains were isolated from the endocervix by the Mc Coy technique in 31 (13.4%) of 232 women aged 18 to 26 years.

Ploy


Definition:

  • (n.) Sport; frolic.
  • (v. i.) To form a column from a line of troops on some designated subdivision; -- the opposite of deploy.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) 10.36am BST Mind Games Well come on then, let's have your thoughts on the best psychological ploys in football history.
  • (2) Chelsea , however, will not be too concerned if this match is added to the long list of games that is used to knock José Mourinho's ploys of conservatism and, ultimately, it is proven to be a valuable result.
  • (3) He wrote: “The NHS in Wales will not be the victim of any Conservative party ploy to drag its reputation through the mud for entirely partisan political purposes.
  • (4) The unsuspecting public may not realise that the call to avoid palm oil is nothing more than a trade ploy since in recent years palm oil has been very competitive and has gained a major share of the world's edible oils and fats market.
  • (5) Will he really go in the slower group of elite runners and not the pace set by Haile Gebrselassie, allowing his rivals a 30-second advantage at halfway, or is it a clever psychological ploy?
  • (6) But in an interview with Buzzfeed , he claimed the choice of lead, played by Jeremy Irvine, was a deliberate ploy to appeal to a heterosexual crowd.
  • (7) Yet Wenger talked about it jarring with his principles to base his entire strategy around ploys of conservatism.
  • (8) This is in part due to planned obsolescence – a devious ploy by manufacturers bolstered by marketing strategies to make us fall out of love with a product hastily.
  • (9) The link between Lynton Crosby and the tax haven could make uncomfortable reading for the prime minister, who has described legal ploys to avoid tax as morally wrong.
  • (10) For the most part, however, the home side were unashamed about their ploys of conservatism.
  • (11) That was Nigeria’s outlet ball all game, and was clearly a deliberate ploy on the part of Keshi.
  • (12) If the ploy had worked, Texas conservatives might have seen Dewhurst as the hero who saved the anti-abortion bill.
  • (13) This ploy has proven unsuccessful in all cases where scientific evidence was adequately presented by the state and in all important court cases where the issue was critically examined.
  • (14) The essence of his argument is that the programme is a ploy to displace poor people from their homes to divert resources to consultants and developers.
  • (15) What giant new claim on our fast-depleting personal wealth is the chancellor going to spring on us that requires such an elaborate ploy?
  • (16) For the owners, this bafflement is a deliberate ploy to enhance the wow factor of reaching the lively reception and bar.
  • (17) Earlier this month a federal district judge, Nelva Gonzales Ramos, struck down the law , slamming it as a cynical ploy on the part of Republicans to fend off the growing strength of the minority electorate in Texas by “suppressing the overwhelmingly Democratic votes of African Americans and Latinos”.
  • (18) This campaign is nothing but a self-interested and cynical ploy by the newspaper, a childish way of hitting back at the growing chorus of anti-Page 3 voices .
  • (19) Although light-hearted in character, Klinsmann’s ploy seems to have a serious purpose behind it as American interest in the World Cup reaches unprecedented levels.
  • (20) Boxer described the Republicans’ letter as “bizarre, inappropriate” and a “desperate ploy to scuttle a comprehensive agreement” that she said is “in the best interests of the United States, Israel and the world”.

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