noun
- a method developed in Japan of defending oneself without the use of weapons by using the strength and weight of an adversary to disable him.
- the use of an opponent’s strengths or one’s own weaknesses to accomplish one’s goals: That was a kind of intellectual jujitsu, the way she handily won the debate. The town of Vacaville, in a prime example of touristic jujitsu, turned its isolation into an attraction in itself.
verb (used with object)
- to turn (a situation) to one’s advantage by exploiting one’s own weaknesses or another’s strengths, as in a social or political relationship: He deftly jujitsued the conversation to make my knowledge of the subject seem pretentious.
noun
- the traditional Japanese system of unarmed self-defence perfected by the samuraiSee also judo
also ju-jitsu, 1875, from Japanese jujutsu, from ju “softness, gentleness” (from Chinese jou “soft, gentle”) + jutsu “art, science,” from Chinese shu, shut.