intrigue
/ˈɪntɹiːɡ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.36 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to affect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem; the practice of engaging in hidden schemes.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to affect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem; the practice of engaging in hidden schemes.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A complicated or clandestine plot or scheme intended to affect some purpose by secret artifice; conspiracy; stratagem; the practice of engaging in hidden schemes.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "His betrayal was the beginning of a complex intrigue intended to give him control of the company."
- "[…] lost in such a jungle of intrigues, pettifoggings, treacheries, diplomacies domestic and foreign […]"
- "I suspect Suzanne and her mysterious friend of being involved in an intrigue."
- "I often used to smile at a young Ensign of the Guards, who always popped [pawned] his sword and watch when he wanted cash for an intrigue; […]"
- "Morality at Delli is at as low an ebb as in the far interior of Brazil, and crimes are connived at which would entail infamy and criminal prosecution in Europe. While I was there it was generally asserted and believed in the place, that two officers had poisoned the husbands of women with whom they were carrying on intrigues, and with whom they immediately cohabited on the death of their rivals."
- "He proposed to call witnesses to show how the prisoner, a profligate and spendthrift, had been at the end of his financial tether, and had also been carrying on an intrigue with a certain Mrs. Raikes, a neighbouring farmer’s wife."
Etymology
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: intrigue, intricare, intrīcō