machination

[ mak-uh-ney-shuhn ]

noun

1. an act or instance of machinating.
2. Usually machinations. crafty schemes; plots; intrigues.

   Synonyms: device, stratagem

machination

/ ˌmæʃ-; ˌmækɪˈneɪʃən /

noun

1. an intrigue, plot, or scheme
2. the act of devising plots or schemes

Other Words From

• anti·machi·nation adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of machination¹

1375–1425; late Middle English machinacion < Latin māchinātiōn- (stem of māchinātiō ). See machinate, -ion

Example Sentences

These electoral slates were a machination that the lawyers treated as fact and the basis for their advice that “7 states” had “transmitted dual slates of electors.”

From Los Angeles Times

“This feels like an op, a scheme, a strategy, a machination, a plot, a ploy, where they are trying to convince you that this is bad for Biden,” Mr. Kirk said during a recent show.

From Washington Times

Both follow the news obsessively, tracking every machination in the former president’s legal drama.

From Los Angeles Times

All of this happens while victims’ families wait for justice, essentially as observers to the legal machination and maneuvers.

From Seattle Times

The certainty that I could defend myself for once, and not be knocked around so much really gave me a certain level of relief from anxiety I was dealing with in addition to that, it is about the machination of man, and transferring a human being into a function of a systems and that transference comes through drilling.

From Salon

Related Words

• conspiracy
• intrigue
• ploy
• ruse
• stratagem