scheming
- given to making plans, especially sly and underhand ones; crafty.
Origin of scheming
Synonyms
See more synonyms for scheming on Thesaurus.comscheme
- a plan, design, or program of action to be followed; project.
- an underhand plot; intrigue.
- a visionary or impractical project.
- a body or system of related doctrines, theories, etc.: a scheme of philosophy.
- any system of correlated things, parts, etc., or the manner of its arrangement.
- a plan, program, or policy officially adopted and followed, as by a government or business: The company's pension scheme is very successful.
- an analytical or tabular statement.
- a diagram, map, or the like.
- an astrological diagram of the heavens.
- to devise as a scheme; plan; plot; contrive.
- to lay schemes; devise plans; plot.
Origin of scheme
Synonyms
See more synonyms for scheme on Thesaurus.comSynonym study
Examples from the Web for scheming
Contemporary Examples
Even the most sketch-ball, scheming car mechanic knows how much those brake pads cost.
Mordred is a slave to his lust for the Queen, finding no outlet for his thwarted energies except in scheming action.
Mantel, unfortunately, repeats the “scheming Anne” portrayal in her own novels.
The goal of my book is to empower people to see through this scheming.
We still have enemies who spend every waking hour scheming of ways to blow up that mall of imagined peacetime.
Those Who Lost Loved Ones on 9/11 Cannot Forget and Neither Should AmericaMichael Daly
September 10, 2012
Historical Examples
He's been scheming, ever since I told him you were coming, to get out of driving in to meet you.
Chip, of the Flying UB. M. Bower
Why, you've got all Nature on your side, plotting and scheming for you.
The Trimming of GoosieJames Hopper
The Carlists were scheming, and the Cortes was driven to an immediate decision.
A Short History of SpainMary Platt Parmele
He had been wondering and scheming how to compel the Spokesmen of the Gens to obey his will.
You know he has been scheming all along to take her from you.
Bloom of CactusRobert Ames Bennet
scheming
- given to making plots; cunning
- intrigues
scheme
- a systematic plan for a course of action
- a systematic arrangement of correlated parts; system
- a secret plot
- a visionary or unrealizable project
- a chart, diagram, or outline
- an astrological diagram giving the aspects of celestial bodies at a particular time
- mainly British a plan formally adopted by a commercial enterprise or governmental body, as for pensions, etc
- mainly Scot an area of housing that is laid out esp by a local authority; estate
- (tr) to devise a system for
- to form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for scheming
scheme
n.
1550s, "figure of speech," from Medieval Latin schema "shape, figure, form, appearance; figure of speech; posture in dancing," from Greek skhema (genitive skhematos) "figure, appearance, the nature of a thing," related to skhein "to get," and ekhein "to have," from PIE root *segh- "to hold, to hold in one's power, to have" (cf. Sanskrit sahate "he masters, overcomes," sahah "power, victory;" Avestan hazah "power, victory;" Greek ekhein "to have, hold;" Gothic sigis, Old High German sigu, Old Norse sigr, Old English sige "victory").
The sense "program of action" first is attested 1640s. Unfavorable overtones (selfish, devious) began to creep in early 18c. Meaning "complex unity of coordinated component elements" is from 1736. Color scheme is attested from 1884.
scheme
v.
"devise a scheme," 1767 (earlier "reduce to a scheme," 1716), from scheme (n.). Related: Schemed; scheming.
Idioms and Phrases with scheming
scheme
see best-laid plans (schemes).