connected with planning and directing actions to achieve a long-term or overall goal
The company hired a consultant to design a strategic roadmap for the next five years.
Good teachers take a strategic approach when deciding how to present difficult ideas.
✦ From strategy + -ic, first recorded in the early 19th century, modelling on French stratégique.
relating to military planning intended to secure a long-term advantage or deterrence
The general emphasized the importance of modern strategic bombers in maintaining national security.
Several countries store strategic missiles in underground silos.
✦ Adopted in military contexts from the broader sense of strategy in the late 19th century.
done deliberately to gain an immediate or specific advantage
Maya made a strategic pause before answering the tricky question.
He placed the sample tray in a strategic spot right by the store entrance.
✦ Extended figurative use from the main sense of strategy, first appearing in everyday English in the mid-20th century.
