machination
noun
mach·i·na·tion
ˌma-kə-ˈnā-shən 
ˌma-shə-
1
: an act of machinating
2
: a scheming or crafty action or artful design intended to accomplish some usually evil end
… backstage machinations and power plays that have dominated the film industry …—
Peter Bogdanovich
Peter BogdanovichExamples of machination in a Sentence
incredibly complicated machinations to assassinate the president that inevitably failed
Recent Examples on the Web
Worse for fans, the franchise was up for sale, and after a complicated series of machinations, now appears to have only one more year at Mohegan Sun before removal to Houston.
—Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2026
Starmer celebrated the bureaucratic machinations of this case—granting automatic citizenship by descent and then securing the end of Abd el-Fattah’s travel ban—without enough attention to the politics.
—Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025
As the film tracks Clark Kent navigating a public increasingly skeptical of Superman's unchecked strength — while Lex Luthor’s machinations test the limits of truth, tech, and influence — Gathegi’s Mister Terrific operates in the grey area where ethics meet engineering.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 30 Dec. 2025
In real life, are those machinations in play?
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for machination
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Dom Amore, Hartford Courant, 1 Jan. 2026
Starmer celebrated the bureaucratic machinations of this case—granting automatic citizenship by descent and then securing the end of Abd el-Fattah’s travel ban—without enough attention to the politics.
—Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 30 Dec. 2025
As the film tracks Clark Kent navigating a public increasingly skeptical of Superman's unchecked strength — while Lex Luthor’s machinations test the limits of truth, tech, and influence — Gathegi’s Mister Terrific operates in the grey area where ethics meet engineering.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 30 Dec. 2025
In real life, are those machinations in play?
—William Earl, Variety, 22 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for machination
Cite this Entry
“Machination.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/machination. Accessed 5 Jan. 2026.
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