Skip to main content
schemer

schemer

9 7.0
A person who secretly plans to get what they want by tricking others
  • noun
  • /ˈskimər/
  • Offensive
translation icon : maquinador
  • She was known as a schemer, always plotting to achieve her personal goals.
  • Ponzi schemer
  • a devious schemer
  • Machiavellian schemer

Bernie Madoff is from my town, the biggest Ponzi scheme schemer ever.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • He'd been a dreamer once, a schemer, a man really going places.

    Blog text (28)
  • Oh, that double-crossing little schemer.

  • Okay, Schemer, it's all set.

  • What a schemer you are, Hellfire Boy.

  • You could tell he was a schemer and planner.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • "You are quite the young schemer, did you know that?" She grinned, looking truly happy for the first time since he had seen her.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Does that sound like Fitzgerald to you, or a schemer trying to play me for a sucker?

  • We should not allow our values to be manipulated by media, politicians, schemers, and thieves.

    Blog text (16)
  • Not for the first time, Ella actually felt pity for these two schemers, who could be every bit as ugly within as they were fair without.

  • Moehringer's Sutton is less a Robin Hood than a self-absorbed schemer.

    Blog text (16)

Synonyms

designer
vsschemer
  • Archaic
11 8.2

A person who plans secret actions to harm or cheat others

is broader, not only conspiratorial but any cunning personal plan
conniver
vsschemer
  • Formal
1 8.4

A person who secretly plans and helps with illegal actions

focuses on private planning but can include noncriminal cunning acts
contriver
vsschemer
1 8.3

A person who thinks up clever plans or ideas

often adds secret or dishonest intent beyond mere clever planning
intriguer
vsschemer
1 8.9

A person who secretly plans to trick others for personal gain

is more general, covering secret or elaborate plans beyond plots
angler
vsschemer
  • Offensive
1 8.5

A person who secretly tries to get an advantage by tricking others

emphasizes secret or elaborate plotting rather than only manipulation
combinator
vsschemer
1 9.9

A person who secretly puts different groups together to gain advantage

is similar but may include simpler or less strategic plotting
wangler
vsschemer
  • UK
1 9.9

A person who tricks others using clever, dishonest methods to get what they want

focuses more on planning than on using trickery or methods
finagler
vsschemer
  • Offensive
9.8

A person who gets things by tricking or lying to others

leans more toward making secret or elaborate plans than practical tricks

How Devious

conspirator
36 6.2
plotter
11 6.4
schemer
  • Offensive
9 7.0
strategist
137 5.1
planner
124 3.2

Surface Forms

schemer singular
schemers plural

Morphology

schemer = scheme (transparent) = scheme + er

Standard agentive formation from the verb 'scheme'; the meaning 'person who schemes' follows directly.

Etymology

Schemer comes from scheme, which goes back to an old Greek word skhēma meaning 'shape' or 'form'. So a schemer is someone who 'shapes' plans — often in secret or in a clever, not honest, way.