machination

[mak-uh-ney-shuhn]

See more synonyms for machination on Thesaurus.com

noun

an act or instance of machinating.
Usually machinations. crafty schemes; plots; intrigues.

Origin of machination

1375–1425; late Middle English machinacion < Latin māchinātiōn- (stem of māchinātiō). See machinate, -ion

Related formsan·ti·mach·i·na·tion, adjective

Synonyms for machination

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2. stratagem, device.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for machination

stratagem, conspiracy, ploy, intrigue, ruse, dodge, cabal, sellout, practice, trick, design, artifice, device, scheme, skullduggery

Examples from the Web for machination

Historical Examples of machination

The protest of the church was of no avail to defeat the machination of demagogues.
A History of American Christianity
Leonard Woolsey Bacon
All MacTaggart's anger rose against madame for her machination.
Doom Castle
Neil Munro
Disunion is at the bottom of this long-concealed Texas machination.
Thirty Years' View (Vol. II of 2)
Thomas Hart Benton
It is pleasant to record that all this match-making and machination came to naught.
Child Life in Colonial Days
Alice Morse Earle
It was not the machination or revenge of a disappointed suitor.
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 2, No. 12, May, 1851.
Various

British Dictionary definitions for machination

machination

noun

an intrigue, plot, or scheme
the act of devising plots or schemes

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for machination

late 15c., "a plotting, intrigue," from Old French machinacion "plot, conspiracy, scheming, intrigue," from Latin machinationem (nominative machinatio) "device, contrivance, machination," noun of action from past participle stem of machinari "contrive skillfully, to design; to scheme, to plot," from machina (see machine). Related: Machinations.