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.
2.
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)
3.
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.
1870-75; < Japanesejūjitsu, earlier jūjutsu, equivalent to jū soft (see judo) + -jut(u) technique < Middle Chinese, equivalent to Chineseshù
Examples from the web for jujitsu
Best of all, it performs a neat bit of linguistic jujitsu.
It was pure political jujitsu, using the momentum of your adversaries to your own advantage.
We had that hand-to-hand, jujitsu, and all that stuff that went with it.
British Dictionary definitions for jujitsu
jujitsu
/dʒuːˈdʒɪtsuː/
noun
1.
the traditional Japanese system of unarmed self-defence perfected by the samurai See also judo
Word Origin
C19: from Japanese, from jū gentleness + jutsu art
Word Origin and History for jujitsu
n.
also ju-jitsu, 1875, from Japanese jujutsu, from ju "softness, gentleness" (from Chinese jou "soft, gentle") + jutsu "art, science," from Chinese shu, shut.