to construct a master plan for.
to master-plan one's career.
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.
First recorded in 1925–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Unlike other parts of the Neom master plan that were scaled back last year before much physical building took place, Trojena was years into construction.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026
His son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has no official title but is one of Trump's envoys for the Gaza ceasefire, said his "master plan" aimed for "catastrophic success".
From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026
The city is still waiting for a recovery road map from a consultant hired in June to develop the master plan.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 6, 2026
Outrage in Rome Mark Antony expected the Romans to see that his actions strengthened his master plan for successfully ruling the east on Rome’s behalf.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
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.
