schemer

[ skee-mer ]

noun

1. someone who devises plans or plots, especially underhanded ones:

   She is one of the memorable characters in literature, a born schemer and social climber unencumbered by any need to tell the truth.

Word History and Origins

Origin of schemer¹

scheme ( def ) + -er ¹

Example Sentences

Galvanized by the antiwar movement and the horror of Bloody Sunday in 1972, Dugdale began to involve herself in schemes supporting the IRA.

From Washington Post

I’ve seen firsthand how importation schemes can put patients at risk.

From Washington Blade

Investigators working on Amazon’s behalf were able to confirm the scheme by placing orders through the links and receiving the advertised counterfeit goods.

From TechCrunch

Defensive players have often talked this season about the difficulty of the transition from the 3-4, two-gapping scheme under former coordinator Greg Manusky to the 4-3, attacking scheme of current coordinator Jack Del Rio.

From Washington Post

He wants to build a 200-room tourist hotel on the Opgard grazing land, and his scheme is to finance the project with local villagers putting up their property as collateral.

From Washington Post

Is that mass of cream cheese you put on a bagel a schemer or a shmeer?

From The Daily Beast

And, second, how can he bust a drug dealer and a Ponzi schemer without endangering Rita and Mitzi?

From The Daily Beast

Mansfield Frazier predicted the convicted schemer would be king of the prison yard long before he became an inmate.

From The Daily Beast

Whether you're the masculine monster in this story or the feminine schemer, you're a dehumanized cartoon.

From The Daily Beast

In the strange case of alleged Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, a new bit player has emerged.

From The Daily Beast

But, glad as was the schemer, his delight and sense of freedom were much inferior to those of his misguided and unlucky partner.

From Project Gutenberg

The revolution of Aranjuez was a bitter disappointment to the great schemer, and disconcerted his plans.

From Project Gutenberg

With the intuition of a born schemer Mina seized on the chance.

From Project Gutenberg

He was the schemer-in-chief; and the others, while disliking him heartily, were content to rely on his superior cunning.

From Project Gutenberg

The boy spoke eagerly, but the more wily schemer shook his head with positiveness.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• rascal
• rogue