as in schemes
a secret plan for accomplishing evil or unlawful ends
incredibly complicated machinations to assassinate the president that inevitably failed
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of machinations
The series’ focus on the machinations of asset management and wealth hoarding — banks, investment funds, start-ups, the stock market, all the ways people with resources find ways to deny them to others — remains firmly in place.
—
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2026
Trump, as is his want, is just doing the normal thing without the usual white niceties that come with imperialist machinations.
—Elie Mystal, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
Worse for fans, the franchise was up for sale, and after a complicated series of machinations, now appears to have only one more year at Mohegan Sun before removal to Houston.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2026
Starmer celebrated the bureaucratic machinations of this case—granting automatic citizenship by descent and then securing the end of Abd el-Fattah’s travel ban—without enough attention to the politics.
—Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025
As the film tracks Clark Kent navigating a public increasingly skeptical of Superman's unchecked strength — while Lex Luthor’s machinations test the limits of truth, tech, and influence — Gathegi’s Mister Terrific operates in the grey area where ethics meet engineering.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 30 Dec. 2025
In real life, are those machinations in play?
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Dec. 2025
The machinations of American bureaucracy were too slow to keep up.
—Literary Hub, 16 Dec. 2025
For all its machinations, the track works.
—Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 13 Dec. 2025
Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 7 Jan. 2026
Trump, as is his want, is just doing the normal thing without the usual white niceties that come with imperialist machinations.
—Elie Mystal, Washington Post, 7 Jan. 2026
Worse for fans, the franchise was up for sale, and after a complicated series of machinations, now appears to have only one more year at Mohegan Sun before removal to Houston.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2026
Starmer celebrated the bureaucratic machinations of this case—granting automatic citizenship by descent and then securing the end of Abd el-Fattah’s travel ban—without enough attention to the politics.
—Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025
As the film tracks Clark Kent navigating a public increasingly skeptical of Superman's unchecked strength — while Lex Luthor’s machinations test the limits of truth, tech, and influence — Gathegi’s Mister Terrific operates in the grey area where ethics meet engineering.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 30 Dec. 2025
In real life, are those machinations in play?
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Dec. 2025
The machinations of American bureaucracy were too slow to keep up.
—Literary Hub, 16 Dec. 2025
For all its machinations, the track works.
—Mosi Reeves, Rolling Stone, 13 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for machinations
Noun
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The new season finds the Shazam moving company battling corporate giant Zenithon Logistics, while Everett (Jae) drags the team through increasingly desperate schemes such as insurance scams, bogus grant applications and a basement AirBnb conversion gone wrong.—
Jesse Whittock,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
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The company now has a consumer alert on its website warning visitors of such schemes.—
Emily Lorsch,
NBC news,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
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But other influencers are using the war as an opportunity to peddle antisemitic conspiracies.—
Geoff Brumfiel,
NPR,
7 Nov. 2025
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Theories about this abound—all have their evidentiary shortcomings—but Greenblatt agrees with a common one that sees Marlowe traveling to France and uncovering Catholic conspiracies against the Crown.—
Isaac Butler,
The Atlantic,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
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The two plots of land up for rezoning are near Anglin Circle and Enon Avenue.—
Emily Holshouser,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
7 Jan. 2026
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Many gardeners grow herbs in their garden plots, raised beds, or in containers.—
Peg Aloi,
The Spruce,
6 Jan. 2026
Noun
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Dallas has hosted on Thanksgiving every year but two since 1966, and this latest matchup intrigues despite the mediocre records on both sides.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
25 Nov. 2025
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If any of that intrigues you, perhaps add a Manukora manuka honey kit to your cart this season.—
Kate Kassin,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
14 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Machinations.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/machinations. Accessed 10 Jan. 2026.
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