machiavellian
UK/ˌmæk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən//ˌmɑk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/
machiavellian is the alternative form of Machiavellian.
Adjective capitalized: Machiavellian
Machiavellian (comparative more Machiavellian, superlative most Machiavellian)
- Attempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics.
- Iago is the Machiavellian antagonist in William Shakespeare's play Othello.
- The most common reason cited is a Machiavellian one: Police view perjury as a necessary means to achieve the ends of justice.1999 January, Larry Cunningham, “Taking on Testilying”, in Criminal Justice Ethics, volume 18, →DOI, pages 26–40
- Synonyms:
- Machiavellic, Machiavellistic
- Related to the philosophical system of Niccolò Machiavelli.
- As Dr. Spalding notes, the connection that Washington drew "between private morality and national character, between virtue and happiness, hardly seems Machiavellian."2006, Paul Rahe, Machiavelli's Liberal Republican Legacy
Noun capitalized: Machiavellian
Machiavellian (plural Machiavellians)
- An unscrupulous schemer.
- Synonyms:
- Machiavellianist, Machiavellist, Machiavel
Synonyms of machiavellian
Forms of machiavellian
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more machiavellian |
| superlative | most machiavellian |
| comparative | more Machiavellian |
| superlative | most Machiavellian |
| alternative form | machiavellian |
| Noun | |
| plural | Machiavellians |
Origin of machiavellian
From Machiavelli + -an, from the name of the Italian statesman and writer Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), whose work The Prince (1532) advises that acquiring and exercising power may require unethical methods.
Words formed from machiavellian
Words that rhyme with machiavellian
Questions about machiavellian
- What does machiavellian mean?
- Machiavellian means attempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics.
- What is machiavellian the alternative form of?
- Machiavellian is the alternative form of Machiavellian.
- What part of speech is machiavellian?
- Machiavellian can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce machiavellian?
- Machiavellian is pronounced /ˌmæk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/ (UK).
Words near machiavellian in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: machiavellian (page history and authors); Machiavellian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-Machiavellian.ogg, en-au-Machiavellian.ogg.
Cite this entry: “machiavellian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/machiavellian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.