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machination

machination

18 9.3
A secret, clever plan to harm or trick others
  • noun
  • /ˌmækɪˈneɪʃən/
  • Formal
translation icon : maquinación
  • The company's secret machinations to ruin its competitor were eventually exposed.
  • political machinations
  • reveal machinations
  • machinations of power

Discussions of this nature continued, and other such machinations were going on far to the West.

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Examples

  • Absolutely nothing should be said about political machinations going on behind the scenes.

  • It was internal machinations that ended up ruining his life.

  • Had he, perhaps, some machination on the part of his old mistress in mind?

    Academic text (1999)
  • And there have been some interesting legal machinations that come along with that.

  • There had been unusual machinations on the Black Sea as well.

  • No one gets to see this part of the machinations behind the scenes.

  • But the Jewish state has not been the only target of their violence and machinations.

    Academic text (2013)
  • His virtue did not make him oblivious to the machinations of the world.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • The machinations of fate never cease to amaze me.

  • He must be stopped before his evil machinations come to a crescendo.

Synonyms

conspiracy
vsmachination
670 5.5

A secret plan by a group to do something illegal or harmful

is broader and not limited to group action while remaining secret and harmful
intrigue
vsmachination
33 6.7

A secret, complicated plan to harm or trick people

is the same idea but framed as a plan aimed at harm
contrivance
vsmachination
1 8.1

A plan made to trick people

is more narrowly a secret harmful plan rather than a general invention

How Devious

conspiracy
670 5.5
machination
  • Formal
18 9.3
plan
1.0

Surface Forms

machination singular
machinations plural

Morphology

machination = machinate (opaque) = machin + ate + ion

The noun is a straightforward abstract noun formation from the verb 'machinate'.

Etymology

Machination comes from the Latin machina, which meant 'device' or 'machine' and is the same root as English machine. So a machination is like a secret 'device' of plans — a clever, often harmful plot that works like a machine.