Meaning & use
mastermind
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Meanings
nouncountable
A very clever person who plans and controls a complex project, often in secret.
Grammar: Often followed by behind: the mastermind behind the heist.
Patterns
- the mastermind behind something
- a criminal mastermind
Police believe a single mastermind organized the robberies.
She was the mastermind behind the company's turnaround.
The detective finally unmasked the mastermind of the plot.
verbtransitive
To plan and direct a complicated operation from behind the scenes.
Grammar: Takes an object: mastermind a plan.
Patterns
- mastermind something
- mastermind a plan
He masterminded the rescue of the hikers.
The coach masterminded a stunning comeback in the final.
Who masterminded the campaign against the new tax?
Word forms
| plural | masterminds |
|---|---|
| third person singular | masterminds |
| past tense | masterminded |
| -ing form | masterminding |
Common combinations
- criminal mastermind
- The film follows a criminal mastermind and a retired cop.
- the mastermind behind
- He is the mastermind behind the festival.
- mastermind a plot
- The spy masterminded a plot to steal the plans.
- mastermind a scheme
- They masterminded a clever fundraising scheme.
- evil mastermind
- Cartoons often feature an evil mastermind with a lair.
Synonyms and how they differ
- brains
- Brains is informal and means the clever person in a group, while mastermind adds leadership of the whole scheme.
- architect
- Architect suggests designing the structure of a plan, often positively, while mastermind often suggests secret control.
- ringleader
- Ringleader implies leading a group in wrongdoing but not necessarily planning it cleverly.
- orchestrate
- Orchestrate, as a verb, means arranging many moving parts, and has less of a secretive feel than mastermind.
Opposites
Word family
- masterminded verb
- past form of mastermind
- masterminding noun
- the act of planning something complex
- mind noun
- the part of a person that thinks
Commonly confused: mastermind or mastery?
mastermind vs mastery
Mastery is great skill in something, while a mastermind is someone who plans a complex scheme.
Practice
The detective realized the quiet accountant had ___ the whole fraud.
Choose one answer.
Masterminded means planned and directed a complicated scheme. Mastered means learned a skill and does not take fraud as its object.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mastermind”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.