Definition of Machiavellian

machiavellian (noun) - a follower of Machiavelli's principles

View other definitions

How can machiavellian be used in a sentence?

  1. "Machiavellian" to suggest a manipulative administration hooked on

    Source null

  2. Illinois governor, Blagojevich can be described as Machiavellian today.

    Source null

  3. Current events: Who would you describe as "Machiavellian" today, and why?

    Source null

  4. I don't think that expertise in Machiavellian politics is such a bad idea.

    Source null

  5. What is with these people who think Karl Rove is some kind of Machiavellian genius?

    Source null

  6. It's that kind of Machiavellian operation that is the way things usually work in the Mideast.

    Source null

  7. It even noses out the rival political reproach "Machiavellian," which had a 500-year head start.

    Source null

  8. Natsios and others argue that no famine has ever inspired such "Machiavellian" manipulation of the numbers.

    Source null

  9. In other words, did Machiavelli actually recommend that rulers be "Machiavellian", as an ideal of government?

    Source null

  10. I recall being criticized because I used the term "Machiavellian" on television once in reference to all this.

    Source null

  11. Now that's what I call a Machiavellian bus; one can only think of the state of Massachusetts 'public transport.

    Source null

  12. He had expected windy vapourings, instead he found cold, reasoned statements -- a kind of Machiavellian philosophy.

    Source null

  13. But that's because you think it throws Ike Eisenhower into a kind of Machiavellian light if the story IS true as told.

    Source null

  14. It's a bastion of arrogance and the kind of Machiavellian "we know what's best for you" attitude that I utterly despise.

    Source null

  15. A "Machiavellian" politician is a cunning person who will say or do anything if he thinks it brings him political benefit.

    Source null

  16. But in fact it works - it's the kind of Machiavellian smarts that Pete excels at and, for once it turns out all right for him.

    Source null

  17. The term "Machiavellian" emerged in the 16th century to describe a devious, cruel tyrant, who uses any means to achieve his goals.

    Source null

  18. The Ai gineers, sobered by the miscalculation in their practical joke, gazed at him as though he were some kind of Machiavellian spoilsport.

    Source null

  19. Flanagan said the "Machiavellian" side is far more troubling than his political transformation, given that it almost cost him his government.

    Source null

  20. Willmore Kendall for example wrote about what was "truly admirable in Machiavelli" (the Discources), which are not at all "Machiavellian" (in the Prince-sense).

    Source null

  21. Here are miniature "Machiavellian" plots that would have a certain rhetorical effectiveness, yet would also involve manipulations in nonverbal "contexts of situation."

    Source null

  22. And there's the word Machiavellian: a single word that describes the political principles and methods advocated by Niccolo Machiavelli, a Florentine Statesman, in 1517.

    Source null

  23. Even today the term "Machiavellian" is used to criticize a politician who spends all his time and effort on getting ahead and manipulating other people for his own gain.

    Source null

  24. "Machiavellian" spirit designates the policy of intrigue that prevailed all through the sixteenth century, and infected even some of the best of the public men of that age.

    Source null

  25. Well, if teenagers are such hothouse flowers-- so malleable and easily swayed that it's considered "Machiavellian" to express an opinion for fear that they might actually listen!

    Source null

  26. He's short term Machiavellian tactician and a rubbish one to boot, especially when the spotlight is on him and he is not operating from the shadows as he had done until last June.

    Source null

  27. The mentality which speaks out of his writings has closest similarity to the famous Indian Arthashastra which originated slightly earlier; both books exhibit a "Machiavellian" spirit.

    Source null

  28. In the Lima interview, Flores sat slough-shouldered and dejected as he lamented his daughter's naivete in trusting the "Machiavellian" van der Sloot enough to accompany him to his room.

    Source null

  29. Yesterday, a cable news anchor promised to "break down" whether Barack Obama's remarks at a South Chicago church were heartfelt or part of a "Machiavellian" attempt to change his public image.

    Source null

  30. V. S. Ramachandran points out that humans are sometimes called the "Machiavellian primate" because of our ability to "read minds" in order to predict other peoples' behaviour and then outsmart them.

    Source null

  31. '' The Prince '' made '' '"Machiavellian"' '' a byword for deceit, despotism and political manipulation, as in a politician who spends all his time and effort on obtaining and retaining power for himself.

    Source null

  32. In their view his spiking of a plan last year to provide fuel for a research reactor in Tehran, in return for Iran sending most of its low-enriched uranium abroad, was all part of this "Machiavellian" agenda.

    Source null

  33. Neuroscientist V. S. Ramachandran points out that humans are sometimes called the "Machiavellian primate" because of our ability to "read minds" in order to predict other peoples' behaviour and then outsmart them.

    Source null

  34. Another London-based analyst said there was unlikely to be anything "Machiavellian" about the Chinese fund's move, and said the idea of a takeover would be "ridiculous" given Total's size and strategic importance for France.

    Source null

  35. Another study conducted by Mr. Keltner and Cameron Anderson, a professor at the Haas School of Business, measured "Machiavellian" tendencies, such as the willingness to spread malicious gossip, in a group of sorority sisters.

    Source null

  36. They are actually willing to give up their Episcopal Orders, their former Roman priests who had married, and anyone else in an "unclear" situation, casting them under the bus so to speak; sort of Machiavellian, which is ironic.

    Source null

  37. Aside from finding this rather extreme "Machiavellian" gets thrown around a bit in this article, this American academic is a bit puzzled: does this mean Oxford students are simply ranked at the end with no explanation whatsoever?

    Source null

  38. Jesuits begun to use the word Machiavellian in the sense that I have described, meaning someone unreliable, someone who always wears a mask, someone who is ready to deceive, who is always keen, always ready and prepared to put his interest before any other moral consideration.

    Source null

  39. But it goes so far as to say that, during the early hours of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Kissinger even kept the details of what was happening from Nixon for about three hours, to keep him from intervening, and then made decisions on his own -- so, very, very, you know, kind of Machiavellian -- Machiavellian politics there.

    Source null

  40. The following observations-which could never pass as "Machiavellian" - should be viewed against the author's more famously glittering advice: "A prince must have the people on his side, otherwise he will not have support in adverse times"; "A prince need not worry unduly about conspiracies when the people are well disposed toward him.

    Source null

  41. It's almost incomprehensible to me, 16 years later, that the name which was once so closely associated with faith in the future of this country and in the power of those who haven't yet been thoroughly contaminated by the astringency of the process has now become synonymous with the worst kind of Machiavellian, win-at-all-costs cynicism.

    Source null

Tips for Using machiavellian in a Sentence

You may have an easier time writing sentences with machiavellian if you know what words are likely to come before or after it, or simply what words are often found in the same sentence.

Frequent Predecessors

Words that often come before machiavellian in sentences. For example: "the machiavellian" or "a machiavellian"

  • the
  • a
  • of
  • and
  • his
  • more
  • with
  • in
  • as
  • this

Frequent Successors

Words that often come after machiavellian in sentences. For example: "machiavellian moment" or "machiavellian ."

  • moment
  • .
  • intelligence
  • policy
  • and
  • in
  • politics
  • tactics
  • political
  • prince

Associated Words

Words that aren't necessarily predecessors or successors, but are often found in the same sentence.

  • machiavellianism
  • realpolitik
  • schemer
  • machiavelli
  • scheming
  • prospector
  • cunning
  • intrigue
  • racehorse
  • sire

Alternate Definitions

  • machiavellian (adjective) - of or relating to Machiavelli or the principles of conduct he recommended
A sentence using machiavellian