Synonyms of scheming

scheming 1 of 3

adjective

ˈskē-miŋ 

as in cunning

clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means

the novel is about an elderly man and his scheming son who is impatient to inherit the family fortune

Synonyms & Similar Words

• cunning
• cute
• slick
• subtle
• designing
• fraudulent
• devious
• wily
• dishonest
• treacherous
• deceptive
• crooked
• crafty
• sly
• shrewd
• guileful
• artful
• beguiling
• cagey
• tricky
• calculating
• foxy
• deceitful
• plotting
• shady
• dodgy
• unscrupulous
• covert
• slippery
• Machiavellian
• sneaky
• astute
• underhanded
• undercover
• shifty
• sharp
• clandestine
• knavish
• secret
• underhand
• facile
• serpentine
• oblique
• insincere
• glib
• hypocritical
• circular
• double-dealing
• insinuating
• surreptitious
• roundabout
• concealed
• furtive
• circuitous
• two-faced
• mealy
• stealthy
• backhanded
• mealymouthed
• smooth-tongued
• hugger-mugger
• left-handed

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• innocent
• ingenuous
• obvious
• guileless
• public
• artless
• real
• plain
• open
• direct
• simple
• outspoken
• sincere
• patent
• honest
• frank
• unconcealed
• straightforward
• forthright
• unaffected
• natural
• unsophisticated
• candid
• childlike
• simpleminded
• impressionable
• unpretentious
• undesigning
• aboveboard
• unpretending
• unvarnished
• unworldly
• trusting
• unforced
• plainspoken
• unstudied
• trustful

scheming

2 of 3

noun

as in plotting

Related Words

• plotting
• stealth
• secrecy
• deception
• dirty tricks
• double-dealing
• design
• dirty pool
• duplicity
• deceit
• treachery
• imposture
• humbuggery
• fakery
• hypocrisy
• quackery
• deviousness
• dissimulation
• cunning
• guile
• insincerity
• shrewdness
• dishonesty
• trickery
• deceptiveness
• subterfuge
• sneakiness
• crookedness
• underhandedness
• slyness
• shiftiness
• dupery
• craftiness
• deceitfulness
• wiliness
• skulduggery
• crookery
• chicanery
• gamesmanship
• wile
• slipperiness
• artfulness
• slickness
• oiliness
• jugglery
• legerdemain
• caginess
• shadiness
• guilefulness
• hanky-panky
• chicane
• jiggery-pokery
• artifice
• sharpness
• foxiness

Dissimilar Words

• sincerity
• ingenuousness
• artlessness
• guilelessness
• forthrightness
• openness
• candor
• directness
• plainness
• candidness
• plainspokenness

scheming

3 of 3

verb

present participle of scheme

as in conniving

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 & Similar Words

• plotting
• conniving
• planning
• conspiring
• colluding
• contriving
• intriguing
• machinating
• devising
• concocting
• hatching
• designing
• manipulating
• compassing
• engineering
• putting up
• maneuvering
• jockeying
• cooking (up)
• brewing
• shaping
• mapping
• counterplotting
• laying out
• framing

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of scheming

Adjective

The doors that slam, as farcical doors are built to do, open to work spaces, where a good deal of time is spent scheming and counter-scheming. —Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 7 Feb. 2025

Many viewed him as being manipulated by his scheming mother, dowager Queen Frederica. —Demetris Nellas, BostonGlobe.com, 10 Jan. 2023

Noun

Enter Consuelos’ Maurice, of course, just in time to put a capper on all the scheming and on this show. —Greg Evans, Deadline, 19 Apr. 2026

When Ashley handed the fake certificate to Josh, his mind was on his own scheming. —Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026

Verb

And did that excite you for the idea that June and Lydia could be scheming together? —Jackie Strause, HollywoodReporter, 29 Apr. 2026

In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said Fairley intends to plead guilty in the sports betting case and a separate case in which he and others are accused of scheming to obtain nonpublic information to bet on college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association games. —Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026