Thesaurus results for SCHEMES

schemes 1 of 2

noun

plural of scheme

as in ruses

a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end an e-mail scheme to trick unwary Internet users into disclosing passwords and financial information

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as in plots

a secret plan for accomplishing evil or unlawful ends a scheme to kidnap the president's daughter

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as in plans

a method worked out in advance for achieving some objective a scheme to upgrade the city's mass transit system

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schemes

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of scheme

as in intrigues

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

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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 schemes

Noun

Mitchell said the Cavs’ offense has changed, a little, to incorporate Harden’s isolation dominance, but also said Harden has fit into their original schemes. —

Joe Vardon, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2026 Somewhere along the way, these schemes stopped rewarding loyalty and started exploiting it. —

Christopher Elliott, USA Today, 5 Apr. 2026 The team members simulated different atomic arrays to get a sense of how fast each size could crack the two main encryption schemes, called Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). —

Quanta Magazine, 3 Apr. 2026 The outlandish schemes of these wily characters have never failed to attract public attention. —

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026 Late in 2025, the number of Feeding Our Future defendants grew to 78, and prosecutors charged 15 in other related schemes. —

Politifact, Dallas Morning News, 2 Apr. 2026 FinCEN added that the schemes are often connected to broader financial crimes, like money laundering, and could involve organized crime groups. —

Kate Nalepinski, MSNBC Newsweek, 31 Mar. 2026 Over the past decade, United States Attorney’s Offices in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia have charged dozens of individuals in corruption and fraud schemes involving college coaches, players and athletic department personnel. —

Robert L. Boone, Sportico.com, 31 Mar. 2026 These schemes show how quickly scammers adapt their tactics. —

Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 30 Mar. 2026

Verb

Marty, who was loosely based on real-life ping-pong legend Marty Reisman, schemes his way to competitions across the globe and hustles for pocket cash. —

Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Mar. 2026 Joy Randolph, follows a desperate gallery owner (Portman) who schemes to sell a dead man as art at Art Basel in Miami. —

Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 26 Jan. 2026 Chalamet embodies Marty’s arrant showmanship with an evident joy in performance, exactly as Marty himself schemes not only shamelessly but jubilantly. —

Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2025 Matthew quickly schemes his way into Oliver’s orbit after that first performance, impressing and rankling the group of lackeys in his entourage at the same time. —

Eric Torres, Pitchfork, 27 Aug. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for schemes

Noun

The New York Colored American reported that some offers of short-term work for Black men — moving livestock to or from Kentucky, for example — were ruses that ended with kidnappings.

— Equal Justice Initiative, USA Today, 6 Nov. 2025
Many suspect a spam call and don't pick up the phone, leading foundation staff to sometimes devise ruses.

— Kelly Meyerhofer, jsonline.com, 8 Oct. 2025