machination

Borrowed from French machination, or directly borrowed from Latin māchinātiōnem, from māchinor (“devise, invent”) c. 1150–1475. By surface analysis, machinate +‎ -ion or machine +‎ -ation.

• IPA^(key): /ˌmækɪˈneɪʃən/, /ˌmæʃɪˈneɪʃən/

• Audio (US); /-k-/:

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• Audio (General Australian); /-k-/:

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• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

machination (countable and uncountable, plural machinations)

1. A clever scheme or artful plot, usually crafted for evil purposes.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 286, column 2:

     Machinations, hollowneſſe, treacherie, and all ruinous diſorders follow vs diſquietly to our Graues.

   • 1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter IV, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 37:

     He witnessed her palpitating bosom, the lifeless hues and disconsolate expression of her interesting countenance; yet, from the machinations of his evil passions, he would have proceeded further, until, entirely overcome, he had seen her drop motionless in her chair, in order that he might have the luxury of supporting her within his arms, and of recalling her to a sense of life and being.

   • 2001 September 7, Walt Dohrn, Paul Tibbitt, Merriwether Williams, “The Secret Box”, in SpongeBob SquarePants:

     PATRICK: The inner machinations of my mind are an enigma.

2. The act of machinating or plotting.

• machinal
• machinate

• “machination”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “machination”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “machination, n.”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Borrowed from Latin māchinātiōnem.

• IPA^(key): /ma.ʃi.na.sjɔ̃/
• Rhymes: -ɔ̃

• Audio:

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machination f (plural machinations)

1. undercover or underhanded plot; machination

• machiner

• “machination”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.