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scheme

noun

Synonyms and Antonyms of scheme

1 a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end

  • an e-mail scheme to trick unwary Internet users into disclosing passwords and financial information
Synonyms of scheme

artifice, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, ruse, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, trick, wile
Words Related to scheme

bluff, end run, feint

cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery

fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle

blind, front, smoke screen
Phrases Synonymous with scheme

sleight of hand

2 a secret plan for accomplishing evil or unlawful ends

  • a scheme to kidnap the president's daughter
Synonyms of scheme

conspiracy, design, intrigue, machination, plot
Words Related to scheme

counterconspiracy, counterplot

frame-up

manipulation, subterfuge, trickery

artifice, contrivance, cover-up, dodge, draft, maneuver, stratagem, trick

cabal, confederacy, ring

game, gimmick, racket

ground plan, program, strategy, system

collusion, complicity, connivance, conniving, conspiration

3 a method worked out in advance for achieving some objective

  • a scheme to upgrade the cityʼs mass transit system
Synonyms of scheme

arrangement, blueprint, design, game, game plan, ground plan, master plan, plan, program, project, road map, strategy, system
Words Related to scheme

collusion, conspiracy, plot

contrivance, device, gambit, maneuver, ruse, stratagem, subterfuge, trick

counterplan, counterstrategy

means, tactic, technique, way

procedure, protocol

conception, idea, projet, proposal, specific(s), specification(s)

aim, intent, intention, purpose

diagram, formula, layout, map, pattern, platform, policy, recipe, setup

Synonym Discussion of scheme

plan, design, plot, scheme, project mean a method devised for making or doing something or achieving an end. plan always implies mental formulation and sometimes graphic representation.
    • plans for a house
design often suggests a particular pattern and some degree of achieved order or harmony.
    • a design for a new dress
plot implies a laying out in clearly distinguished sections with attention to their relations and proportions.
    • the plot of the play
scheme stresses calculation of the end in view and may apply to a plan motivated by craftiness and self-interest.
    • a scheme to defraud the government
project often stresses imaginative scope and vision.
    • a project to develop the waterfront

scheme

verb

Synonyms and Antonyms of scheme

to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends

  • the town inspector had schemed to overlook the contractor's code violations in exchange for a substantial bribe
Synonyms of scheme

collude, compass, connive, conspire, contrive, intrigue, machinate, plot, put up
Words Related to scheme

counterplot

brew, concoct, cook (up), devise, hatch

engineer, jockey, maneuver, manipulate

design, frame, lay out, map, plan, shape

Learn More about scheme

  1. See words that rhyme with scheme Dictionary: Definition of scheme Medical Dictionary: Definition of scheme Spanish Central: Translation of scheme Nglish: Translation of scheme for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of scheme for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about scheme

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