as in planning
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends
mobsters were caught plotting to take over the company
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
as in calculating
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
as in scheming
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for plotting
Verb
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But the biggest threats come from billionaire corporate land developers and scheming local government officials, eager to get their greedy hands on all that gorgeous acreage to build casinos, resort hotels, golf courses, and the like.—
Ars Technica,
Ars Technica,
24 Dec. 2024 -
In two different filings in New York and Texas last month, Drake accused UMG – which distributes music for both Drake and Lamar – of scheming to popularize Lamar's diss track, which in turn allegedly harmed Drake and his businesses.—
KiMi Robinson,
USA TODAY,
21 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Even Alex becomes too entangled in her students’ dealings and ends up suffering at the hands of one of the more calculating boys.—
Rebekah Frumkin,
Washington Post,
6 Sep. 2019
-
And experts believe that his intuitive style could throw the more calculating Caruana, who has faced time crunches already in this championship, off-balance.—
Joshua Robinson,
WSJ,
27 Nov. 2018
Noun
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The Pentagon is pouring billions into next-generation aircraft, pushing the boundaries of stealth and speed.—
Staff,
FOXNews.com,
5 July 2025
-
What makes vaping especially difficult to manage is its stealth.—
Adriana Espinosa,
The Conversation,
12 June 2025
Verb
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For new investors in their early 20s or 30s who have never experienced a market correction or for someone planning on retiring soon, experiencing a market correction can be very unsettling.—
Earl Carr,
Forbes,
25 Mar. 2025
-
The administration is planning a much broader reduction of its workforce.—
Stephen Fowler,
NPR,
1 Mar. 2025
Adjective
-
Now, after Operation Midnight Hammer, arguably one of the most perfect covert military operations in U.S. history, who could argue? Even Trump’s most ardent critics had to give him credit.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
28 June 2025
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This deliberately allusive narrative style enables the author to elude the topic of Nazism—or at least to hint at it in a covert way, thus making the novel acceptable to a wide German audience at the time of its publication in 1968.—
Ombline Damy,
JSTOR Daily,
26 June 2025
Noun
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But the answer to bureaucratic inefficiency is not secrecy and self-regulation.—
Marcus Friedman,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 June 2025
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This foot-dragging and embrace of secrecy is unacceptable, and watchdog groups such as TPAF will continue to hold the DOJ accountable.—
Ross Marchand,
Baltimore Sun,
23 June 2025
Adjective
-
There’s nothing surreptitious about my administration.—
Alice Yin,
Chicago Tribune,
11 May 2025
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Reporters from around the country followed the case, which marked the first time ever that prosecutors would play for a jury a surreptitious FBI recording of mob soldiers taking the oath of omerta during a mafia initiation ceremony.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
21 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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American veterans and others have traveled to smaller, clandestine clinics for treatment to deal with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction.—
Eduardo Cuevas,
USA Today,
29 June 2025
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Gi-hun, who’d found his way back in the clandestine gaming complex (situated inside a mountain on a remote island), is Player 456 again among a new round of contestants.—
Lorraine Ali,
Los Angeles Times,
28 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Plotting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plotting. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
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