masterminding

verb

present participle of mastermind
as in negotiating
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of masterminding However, off the field, the leadership style of the man tasked with masterminding a new era at Anfield is understated. — James Pearce, New York Times, 23 Aug. 2026 Davis was arrested in 2023 and indicted for masterminding the killing and providing the gun. — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug. 2026 Russian war bloggers responded to Fedorov’s dismissal with glee, noting his role in masterminding long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused a fuel crisis and midrange attacks that disrupted military logistics. — ABC News, 21 July 2026 After a series of personal setbacks, Ingrid moves to Los Angeles to be closer to Taylor, masterminding their meeting and worming her way into her inner circle. — Brianna Zigler, Entertainment Weekly, 15 July 2026 The siblings have been there for one another since day one—and Austin’s even been instrumental in masterminding some of his sister’s biggest moments. — Bailey Bujnosek, InStyle, 2 July 2026 Last year, both Karen Read, acquitted of killing her Boston cop boyfriend in June, and Sherri Papini, who served time for masterminding her own 2016 kidnapping in California, participated in documentaries about their cases. — Savannah Walsh, Vanity Fair, 18 June 2026 Johnson was convicted of capital murder on March 19, 2003, for masterminding the 1999 shooting. — Kc Baker, PEOPLE, 2 June 2026 Then revive ancient accusations of Jews masterminding a political conspiracy and engaging in ritual murder and dismemberment. — David Frum, The Atlantic, 21 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for masterminding
  1. negotiating
  2. plotting
  3. arranging
  4. manipulating
Verb
  • Still, there was much pomp and circumstance at the gala in July, and many thousands of dollars’ worth of clothing and jewelry plus plenty of vertiginous heels negotiating with the gravel.
    — Sarah Douglas, ARTnews.com, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The five countries have been negotiating with governments mainly in Africa over potential sites, pioneering the initiative for the whole of the EU.
    — Claudia Ciobanu, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of negotiating
Verb
  • Messages reviewed by the researchers showed agents plotting ways to evade detection, use tools such as Tor and preserve communications even after they had been shut down.
    — Reuters, NBC news, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Now, in early 1943, the 33-year-old Flynn — the country’s biggest movie star — was plotting his flight from the American justice system.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of plotting
Verb
  • The case turned into a years-long legal saga, with multiple people convicted of their roles in arranging the hit, including Wendi’s brother, Charlie Adelson, and her mother, Donna.
    — Jordana Comiter, PEOPLE, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Britain’s populist Reform UK said two senior aides to leader Nigel Farage stepped down on Friday after an undercover investigation alleged the party had broken electoral law by arranging for a foreign donor to pay for political polling.
    — NBC news, NBC news, 4 Sep. 2026
Definition of arranging
Verb
  • Last Wednesday, Meta reached a settlement with the attorneys general of forty-seven states, who had sued it for illegally manipulating the attention of children.
    — Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 30 Aug. 2026
  • The experiment, therefore, suggests that empty space itself could become a new tool for manipulating quantum matter, much like other efforts to push the limits of superconducting materials.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 22 Aug. 2026
Definition of manipulating

Browse Nearby Words

masterminded
masterminding
masterminds
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Cite this Entry

“Masterminding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/masterminding. Accessed 10 Sep. 2026.

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