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.
But the larger lesson lies in how Fishtown made a comeback: not through a master plan or top-down government program, but by making private investment feasible.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 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
I don’t have a master plan to answer your question.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 9, 2026
A 2020 master plan proposed building a $14.4 billion deck above the trains to anchor 12,000 apartments, along with office, industrial and retail space.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026
Skipping grades in school was part of Dad’s master plan.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
