machiavellian
UK /ˌmæk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/ · US /ˌmɑk.i.əˈvɛl.i.ən/ adjective, noun
Forms Machiavellians
- adjective Attempting to achieve goals by cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous methods, especially in politics. “Iago is the Machiavellian antagonist in William Shakespeare's play Othello.”
- adjective Related to the philosophical system of Niccolò Machiavelli.
- noun An unscrupulous schemer.
Synonyms
Machiavellic Machiavellistic Machiavellianist Machiavellist Machiavel
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.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “machiavellian”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details