master plan
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to construct a master plan for.
to master-plan one's career.
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to develop or improve (land, a community, a building complex, or the like) through a long-range plan that balances and harmonizes all elements.
The engineers master-planned the island to provide for increases in the tourist population.
noun
Etymology
Origin of master plan
First recorded in 1925–30
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.
While the pacing stumbles a little in the first half, it picks up satisfyingly on alternate Earth with John Ward’s as-yet-unknown master plan.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
Colletti: I’ve got this master plan of telling my kid that his dad was on a TV show that was really cool back in the day.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 9, 2026
The estimated costs in the 2020 master plan have likely changed due to rising prices for materials and construction labor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
Carney’s master plan for breaking U.S. dependency—extracting more natural resources and diversifying their export—will take years at best, and he may not be making the best start.
From Barron's • Nov. 25, 2025
Fuller thought it best to let people believe this fiction, but the truth was that he had no master plan.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
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.
