machination
Americannoun
-
an intrigue, plot, or scheme
-
the act of devising plots or schemes
Other Word Forms
- antimachination adjective
Etymology
Origin of machination
1375–1425; late Middle English machinacion < Latin māchinātiōn- (stem of māchinātiō ). See machinate, -ion
Explanation
When a James Bond villain comes up with a plan to destroy the world, he doesn’t use a simple plan. No, he uses a machination — a complex plot that relies on numerous elements coming together to work. Not surprisingly, machination derives from the Medieval French machina, meaning "machine." And, like many a machine, a machination is subject to going wrong, often comically (see James Bond movies). Politicians love a good machination, and their machinations are frequently exposed in the press as scandals.
Vocabulary lists containing machination
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Both follow the news obsessively, tracking every machination in the former president’s legal drama.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 17, 2023
All of this happens while victims’ families wait for justice, essentially as observers to the legal machination and maneuvers.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 13, 2023
Another strange Pentagon machination was the proposal Miller floated in mid-December to separate the code-breaking National Security Agency from U.S.
From Washington Post • Dec. 26, 2020
The film is transparent in the sense that you can see through everything it's doing, and it's so brazen about each machination that you can't help laughing.
From Salon • Apr. 20, 2011
But now she was in a rapture of plotting and machination.
From The Tower of Oblivion by Onions, Oliver [pseud.]
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
