Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of scheming or plotting.
  • noun A crafty scheme or cunning design for the accomplishment of a sinister end.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of machinating, or of contriving a scheme for executing some purpose, particularly a forbidden or an evil purpose; underhand plotting or contrivance.
  • noun That which is planned or contrived; a plot; an artful design formed with deliberation; especially, a hostile or treacherous scheme.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of machinating.
  • noun That which is devised; a device; a hostile or treacherous scheme; an artful design or plot.

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

  • noun A clever scheme or artful plot, usually crafted for evil purposes.
  • noun The act of machinating or plotting.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a crafty and involved plot to achieve your (usually sinister) ends

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin machinatio, from machinari ("to contrive"); see machinate.

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