as in negotiated
to plan out usually with subtle skill or care
he was charged with masterminding a plan to redecorate the suite of offices without seriously disrupting business operations
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Recent Examples of masterminded
The manager who masterminded the FA Cup win last season and the player who scored the winning goal in the UEFA Conference League final took a moment to appreciate each other and let reality sink in.
—
Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 28 May 2026
O’Neill masterminded Nike’s pivot away from wholesale, a move that ended badly when retailers started carrying all of Nike’s competitors instead, and oversaw its women’s business, which never matched its men’s line.
—Shelly Banjo, semafor.com, 23 Apr. 2026
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer has masterminded the charter rewrite, promoting it as a way to make county government more transparent and accountable to the public.
—Lucas Robinson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Apr. 2026
Prosecutors say Robert Sabiron Rubillar and Liezyl Rubillar, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Legal Systems Billing Solutions, masterminded the scheme.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026
Sixty-five years ago, my grandfather masterminded a robbery at a historic Los Angeles estate.
—Jennifer Cannon, Vanity Fair, 7 Apr. 2026
Its Scandinavian design was masterminded by a Swiss architect, and while the angles may be precise and dramatic, the furnishings are unabashedly hygge, with sheepskins, soft throws, and wood-burning fireplaces throughout to fend off the coastal damp.
—Ashley Baker, Air Mail, 4 Apr. 2026
After reluctantly agreeing to be a temporary adviser, Jobs took over as CEO and masterminded an innovation factory that churned out the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad in a decade-long burst of feverish creativity.
—ABC News, 31 Mar. 2026
Court records show Wamuigah participated in a business email compromise scheme masterminded by Okechuckwu Valentine Osuji of Nigeria.
—Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 29 Mar. 2026
Matt Woosnam, New York Times, 28 May 2026
O’Neill masterminded Nike’s pivot away from wholesale, a move that ended badly when retailers started carrying all of Nike’s competitors instead, and oversaw its women’s business, which never matched its men’s line.
—Shelly Banjo, semafor.com, 23 Apr. 2026
Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer has masterminded the charter rewrite, promoting it as a way to make county government more transparent and accountable to the public.
—Lucas Robinson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Apr. 2026
Prosecutors say Robert Sabiron Rubillar and Liezyl Rubillar, the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of Legal Systems Billing Solutions, masterminded the scheme.
—Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026
Sixty-five years ago, my grandfather masterminded a robbery at a historic Los Angeles estate.
—Jennifer Cannon, Vanity Fair, 7 Apr. 2026
Its Scandinavian design was masterminded by a Swiss architect, and while the angles may be precise and dramatic, the furnishings are unabashedly hygge, with sheepskins, soft throws, and wood-burning fireplaces throughout to fend off the coastal damp.
—Ashley Baker, Air Mail, 4 Apr. 2026
After reluctantly agreeing to be a temporary adviser, Jobs took over as CEO and masterminded an innovation factory that churned out the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad in a decade-long burst of feverish creativity.
—ABC News, 31 Mar. 2026
Court records show Wamuigah participated in a business email compromise scheme masterminded by Okechuckwu Valentine Osuji of Nigeria.
—Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 29 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for masterminded
Verb
-
The police negotiated the release of two hostages on Tuesday.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
3 June 2026
-
In fact, the city would be adopting a version of the reform agreement Louisville had previously negotiated with the Biden administration and hiring an outside monitor to oversee its progress.—
Topher Sanders,
ProPublica,
2 June 2026
Verb
-
Since Roboto was mechanically engineered, the humanitarian android carries the altruistic Aquarian sentiment.—
Lisa Stardust,
PEOPLE,
5 June 2026
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This episode of Galaxy Brain was produced by Renee Klahr and engineered by Miguel Carrascal.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
5 June 2026
Verb
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The five-bedroom estate is arranged around a central pool courtyard, creating a private interior world of gardens, shaded terraces and open-air gathering spaces.—
Spencer Elliott,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
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Police in Las Vegas arranged for him to be arrested and then extradited to California, Clark said.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
5 June 2026
Verb
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In performance and direction, and in the small ways in which Caswell and Wills have plotted out this isolated love story, there’s a level of great richness and detail.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
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Nearly all the tracks are rigorously plotted within the modal grammar of Hindustani classical music.—
Arman Khan,
Pitchfork,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Benchmaxing, by contrast, is about the structural conditions under which the entire industry evaluates itself—and, the research argues, those conditions are routinely manipulated or ignored.—
Nick Lichtenberg,
Fortune,
8 June 2026
-
With enough optimization and intervention, their argument goes, the body can be manipulated into becoming fully knowable, mastered, perfect.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Masterminded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/masterminded. Accessed 9 Jun. 2026.
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