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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in plotting
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of 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
Chris Tye, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026
Research shows spontaneous scheming to avoid being shut down.
—Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2026
Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026
These words are spoken by the scheming Iago in Othello (1603–04) and by the disguised Viola in Twelfth Night (1600–02).
—Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for 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
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg's job is to sniff out wrongdoing by city workers, and her office's first quarterly report of 2026 revealed a stunning number of findings that involve scamming, scheming, and illegally profiting from work as a city employee.
—Chris Tye, CBS News, 15 Apr. 2026
Research shows spontaneous scheming to avoid being shut down.
—Alexei Oreskovic, Fortune, 2 Apr. 2026
Verb
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
These words are spoken by the scheming Iago in Othello (1603–04) and by the disguised Viola in Twelfth Night (1600–02).
—Gitanjali Roy, Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for scheming
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scheming
Adjective
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Dano’s static line delivery gets used for a chilling but laconic effect as his character’s cunning political negotiations lead to deadly outcomes.—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
13 May 2026
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There’s arguably no one better placed to collaborate with VFX artists on a motion-capture performance than Serkis, who’s delivered innocence, cunning, cruelty, longing, and kindness in roles that run from Golum to Caesar to King Kong himself.—
Sarah Shachat,
IndieWire,
4 May 2026
Noun
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Who is murdered, why and Clare’s entanglement in the whole deal unfold over the remainder of the novel, featuring much tighter and more plausible plotting than your average suspense story.—
John Warner,
Chicago Tribune,
16 May 2026
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For that, Quintrell turned directly to Austen’s own plotting.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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Walter, who had left the Progressive Labor Party, didn’t preach Marxism to his son, but Riley embraced a radical-left viewpoint on his own, after tagging along with some cute older girls who were participating in a cannery workers’ strike.—
Emily Nussbaum,
New Yorker,
17 May 2026
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He's described as being cute, with chin-length dark hair, dimples and a diamond stud in one ear.—
Jennifer McClellan,
USA Today,
17 May 2026
Noun
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Different routes through each level — stealth, social infiltration or full-action — feed the replay loop in a way that should give the game serious legs past launch week.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2026
-
Franzen is the cofounder and CEO of Furientis, a defense startup that emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding, Fortune learned exclusively.—
Lily Mae Lazarus,
Fortune,
14 May 2026
Adjective
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Gary, meanwhile, is a creature of the city in slick suits and a Mercedes, a divorced former cop who now leverages his old connections for vague, lucrative work that may not ever cross over into the explicitly illicit, but that definitely involves shades of gray.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
17 May 2026
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Underfoot, the grippy Vibram outsole delivers reliable traction on everything from loose gravel to slick roots.—
Francesca Krempa,
Travel + Leisure,
16 May 2026
Noun
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The ballot will be separated from the return envelope to preserve the secrecy of your ballot, and it then will be tallied.—
John Woolfolk,
Mercury News,
18 May 2026
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Quantum key cryptography allows two parties aiming to share sensitive data to establish a secure encryption key with secrecy ensured by the laws of physics, not the computational difficulty of a mathematical problem.—
Katie Hunt,
CNN Money,
17 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scheming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scheming. Accessed 21 May. 2026.
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