scheme
Americannoun
-
schemes
plural
-
a plan, design, or program of action to be followed; project.
-
an underhand plot; intrigue.
- Synonyms:
- conspiracy, cabal, stratagem
-
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.
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a diagram, map, or the like.
-
an astrological diagram of the heavens.
verb (used with object)
-
schemes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
schemed,
past participle, past
-
scheming
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
schemes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
schemed,
past participle, past
-
scheming
present participle
noun
-
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
-
a plan formally adopted by a commercial enterprise or governmental body, as for pensions, etc
-
an area of housing that is laid out esp by a local authority; estate
verb
-
(tr) to devise a system for
-
to form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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schemernoun
-
subschemenoun
-
underschemenoun
-
outschemeverb (used with object)
-
schemelessadjective
-
unschemedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
schemesimple
-
schemessimple
-
have schemedperfect
-
has schemedperfect
-
am schemingprogressive
-
are schemingprogressive
-
is schemingprogressive
-
have been schemingperfect progressive
-
has been schemingperfect progressive
Past
-
schemedsimple
-
had schemedperfect
-
was schemingprogressive
-
were schemingprogressive
-
had been schemingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scheme
First recorded in 1545–55; from Medieval Latin schēma (stem schēmat- ), from Greek schêma “form, figure”
Explanation
A scheme is an elaborate plan or plot. It's going to take a really solid scheme, probably involving teleportation or some sort of temporary cloning, to make an appearance at both parties at once. Scheme comes to us from the Latin word for "figure." And it's still used today to refer to a set of drawings and figures used to map out something. Or maybe you’ve heard people talk about something in the scheme of life." In that case they're talking about something that fits into the bigger picture. But don't forget that schemes often carry a negative connotation — the word brings to mind devious plans and secret plots organized by scheming bad guys.
Vocabulary lists containing scheme
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"The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry
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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.
See Examples For:
Contoret said schools and local charities were best placed to identify families who could benefit from the scheme and ensure gifts were distributed discreetly.
From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026
The scheme included payoffs to officials who maintained former Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s aircraft fleet, according to the guilty plea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
Spanning an area the size of Singapore, the $700-million scheme is the first cross-border wind project in Asia and the largest wind farm in Southeast Asia.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
Prosecutors said Mailyan was involved in an elaborate fraud scheme that ignored Medicare’s rules for Botox coverage and brazenly fabricated medical records.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
This scheme has a collateral rub: when the regulators themselves go rogue, nothing can stop a cell from replicating continuously.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Philippines foreign ministry earlier said Lazaro had spent Wednesday in the eastern state of Shan, overseeing humanitarian schemes aiding those displaced in the civil war triggered by the coup.
From Barron's ● Oct. 29, 2026
The Growth Mission Fund was set up to invest £240m between 2026-27 and 2029-30 in schemes designed to boost job creation and the economic regeneration of local communities.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026
That distinction becomes especially important in the CD-35 2722 system, where the possible moon is itself massive enough to be considered a planet under some classification schemes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
The Goliath Corp., meanwhile, yearns to eliminate Thursday and execute grandiose schemes of literary mischief.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
The manpower needs created by the six-year war generated several emancipation schemes whereby slaves would be freed and their owners compensated in return for enlistment for the duration of the conflict.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
He schemed to get an imported copy seized by customs to trigger a court case over its content.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026
Afforded extra space by his manager's decision to play Jack Grealish alongside him in a central position, De Bruyne schemed in the way he usually does.
From BBC ● Dec. 4, 2024
City-states, hoping to win civic glory, sometimes schemed to bribe top athletes to falsely claim that city as their own.
From Salon ● Aug. 10, 2024
Special Counsel David Weiss also filed new charges and nine new tax counts last week, alleging he schemed to avoid paying about $1.4 million in taxes over a three-year period.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 13, 2023
In Leon’s life, or rather, in his account of his life, no one was mean-spirited, no one schemed or lied or betrayed.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
"I know what I did, I know what we did, and I know how it happened. It didn't feel like we were scheming or plotting."
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
What are rising mortgage rates and utility bills when you’ve been neutralized by some bioweapon engineered by a collective of scheming AI agents, recursively self-improving their way to planetary domination?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 2026
“They bring a bit of everything, and Coach Patterson does a great job of scheming up the defense,” Paige said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
Deluded self-mythologizing was at the core of Johnson’s mockumentary series “Nirvanna the Band the Show” and well-regarded movie expansion about two musicians perpetually scheming to perform at Toronto’s Rivoli club.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
All the fretting and scheming I'd done over how I would copy the play, and suddenly here it was, handed over to me in one piece, without the slightest effort on my part.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
