Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

machiavellian

/ˌmɑk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.52 in modern English

Syllables: machi-avel-lian
IPA: /ˌmɑk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/

23

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

6

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Attempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics.

adj

Related to the philosophical system of Niccolò Machiavelli.

noun

An unscrupulous schemer.

adj

Alternative form of Machiavellian.

Example Sentences

"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."
"These are the actions of a club flailing around to make things work, not the 4D chess moves of some Machiavellian puppet master."
"As Dr. Spalding notes, the connection that Washington drew "between private morality and national character, between virtue and happiness, hardly seems Machiavellian.""

Etymology

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.

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˌmɑk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/
British English: /ˌmæk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/

Inflected Forms

more Machiavellian (comparative) most Machiavellian (superlative) Machiavellians (plural)

Derived Forms

Machiavellianism Machiavellism Merkelvellian

Synonyms

Machiavellic Machiavellistic Machiavellianist Machiavellist Machiavel

Rhymes With

orwellian deleon rebellion hellion tabellion circumcellion stellion tetraskelion

Questions

How do you pronounce machiavellian?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˌmɑk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/.
What does machiavellian mean?: Attempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics.
Where does machiavellian come from?: 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.

How to pronounce machiavellian

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