Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Alternative form of Machiavellian.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word machiavellian.

Examples

  • She has just burned a bridge too many and represents the kind of machiavellian politics people want to see the back of.

    Rendell Likes Idea of Clinton-Obama Ticket - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • Eric Pickles, the machiavellian at the heart of these changes, is revising the Town and Country Planning Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations 1999.

    Letters: Planning gain for the developers 2011

  • In one corner we have stubborn Magdalene, ably aided by the ingenious Captain Wragge, in the other, the repulsive potential bridegroom, sickly Mr Noel Vanstone and his gorgon of a housekeeper, the machiavellian Mrs Lecount who is equally determined to keep him single.

    Wilkie Collins’ No Name « Tales from the Reading Room 2009

  • Gareth Fordred as the artfully side-swapping Leicester, Tom Radford as the besotted, hot-headed Mortimer and Richard Delaney as the machiavellian Burleigh all make a decisive mark.

    Mary Stuart – review 2012

  • In addition, one might wonder what the fate will be of Alan Donnelly, Mosley's machiavellian deputy.

    Death throes or battle rejoined? Gordon McCabe 2009

  • The machiavellian menial Tranio, pretending to be his master Lucentio, has won a assent of Bianca's father to matrimony with him by boasting of his father's huge wealth.

    Philadelphia Reflections: Shakspere Society of Philadelphia admin 2009

  • Sugar suggested the young apprentices might actually be better than their adult equivalents, who have amused audiences for years with their fondness for business jargon, machiavellian plotting and bulletproof self-belief.

    Lord Sugar attacks youth 'expectancy culture' 2011

  • As happens in many sports when hundreds of millions of dollars are involved, the America's Cup has became a machiavellian world in which power struggles and legal machinations matter more than the actual competition.

    Ben Ainslie ready to battle for right to defend Olympic crown 2011

  • The machiavellian menial Tranio, pretending to be his master Lucentio, has won a assent of Bianca's father to matrimony with him by boasting of his father's huge wealth.

    Archive 2009-11-01 admin 2009

  • In addition, one might wonder what the fate will be of Alan Donnelly, Mosley's machiavellian deputy.

    Archive 2009-06-01 Gordon McCabe 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Eponym: cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous. (from WordCraft)

    May 20, 2008