Meaning & use
machination
A secret or cunning plan intended to achieve a harmful or selfish purpose, usually used in the plural.
See it in a sentence
The novel's plot centers on the political machinations of a scheming royal advisor.
It took months to uncover the machinations behind the company's sudden collapse.
A note on using this word
Machination almost always appears in the plural, 'machinations,' and carries a strongly negative sense of secretive, self-serving plotting.
Words with a similar meaning
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