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

At trial, Barisone presented himself as the victim of scheming. — Ian Parker, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026

Skillfully insinuating actors on the order of Tom Hollander (Treasurer Robert Hales) and Stephen Dillane (Archbishop Sudbury) add some spice to the film’s periodic seminars in court scheming and skulking. — Michael Phillips, Variety, 9 Sep. 2026

Verb

Retaliation is not unheard of in higher education and fear of scheming colleagues is common. — Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 26 Sep. 2026

To this day, third-party researchers continue to uncover more evidence of how OpenAI's models were secretly scheming and developing ways to hack Hugging Face. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 25 Sep. 2026