machinations

noun

plural of machination
as in schemes
a secret plan for accomplishing evil or unlawful ends incredibly complicated machinations to assassinate the president that inevitably failed

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of machinations For all the machinations, though, this dealmaking could happen without Greenland changing hands. — Joshua Hunt, Vanity Fair, 17 June 2026 Elmosnino is an amusing villain, making his most self-serving machinations sound reasonable. — Television Critic, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2026 Changing the way people move The machinations that go into trying to plan simultaneous transactions can be mind-boggling. — Andrea Riquier, USA Today, 28 May 2026 Fortunately, the plot machinations demand that Tova sprain her ankle early in the film, which gives the otherwise ageless Field the excuse to limp or shuffle around in a walking boot. — Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 30 May 2026 Plots and machinations have been set in motion in King’s Landing as well, where Alicent conspires against her own sons, sending Aemond out of the city and paving the way for Rhaenyra to take the city. — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 5 July 2026 And yet, in spite of its Clark and Dearborn gambit and an hourlong finale that ties far too many bows on top of bows, Season 5 works because its artistic machinations are rooted in character over plot, and the characters are what matters. — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 26 June 2026 The machinations with Wiggins’ extension should work toward getting the Heat below the luxury tax in 2027-28, and therefore preventing the triggering of the punitive repeater luxury tax. — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 29 June 2026 Ithaca, located among the Ionian islands of western Greece, acts as Odysseus’s north star, the destination he is prevented from reaching for 10 harrowing years by the machinations of Polyphemus’s vengeful father, Poseidon. — Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 18 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for machinations
  1. schemes
  2. conspiracies
  3. plots
  4. intrigues
Noun
  • Twelve hundred conceptual categories showed up in just 490 papers and nowhere in the formal schemes, clustered in environmental drivers and ecological processes.
    — John Drake, Forbes.com, 30 June 2026
  • New York officials say the unit is a national leader that targets complex, high-impact corporate schemes, and Attorney General Letitia James vows legal action, calling the cutoff an outrageous political attack.
    — Ali Swenson, Los Angeles Times, 30 June 2026
Definition of schemes
Noun
  • The series blends crime procedural elements with the spiritual and cultural landscape of the Navajo reservation as the officers investigate brutal murders connected to larger conspiracies.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026
  • Season 3 finds Ferguson's Juliette seeking answers to her experiences outside the silo and the conspiracies that led to their dystopian world.
    — Tiffany Kelly, Entertainment Weekly, 3 July 2026
Definition of conspiracies
Noun
  • In one of the side plots to The Lord of the Rings, two of the Hobbits attempt to rouse Treebeard—a wise but ponderous sentient tree—to defend his forest from an army that is cutting it down.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 1 July 2026
  • Parreno said the grant will cover the costs of about a year’s worth of water for the garden’s 100-plus members, who also pay dues to access plots.
    — Pedro Moura, Los Angeles Times, 1 July 2026
Definition of plots
Noun
  • Netflix announced a second melodrama last December, about the secrets and intrigues of an elite Rio de Janeiro family, created in partnership with Amaia Produções and Conspiração, with general direction by Mauro Mendonça Filho.
    — John Hopewell, Variety, 25 May 2026
  • The rich textures and thick ambiance of The Eyes of Others are pure high modernist 1960s Italian cinema, but De Sica unfurls the film’s winding intrigues with a contemporary sense of suspense, carnality, and visual boldness.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 29 Apr. 2026
Definition of intrigues

Browse Nearby Words

machination
machinations
machinator
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Cite this Entry

“Machinations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/machinations. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on machinations

Nglish: Translation of machinations for Spanish Speakers

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