Machiavel
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A person who follows the principles laid down by Niccolò Machiavelli.
- 2 A schemer or intriguer.
"The distinction is between the anonymous Continental Op of the detective novel, the man of honour who must nevertheless walk down mean streets, and the thoroughgoing Machiavel, the man who has learned not to be good."
Example
More examples"The distinction is between the anonymous Continental Op of the detective novel, the man of honour who must nevertheless walk down mean streets, and the thoroughgoing Machiavel, the man who has learned not to be good."
Etymology
An Anglicisation of the Italian surname Machiavelli, as borne by Niccolò Machiavelli.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.