Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for Machiavellian
Adjective
  • The campaign materials were unequivocal: Worley believed LGBT influences in society were immoral.
    Nick Penzenstadler, USA TODAY, 4 Mar. 2025
  • And so Rose, immortal on the field, with a bat, was judged immoral off it by the saints who guard baseball’s gate.
    Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 4 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Whoever sells the most wins a car; whoever sells the least is out of a job – a ruthless environment where each character will do anything to come out on top.
    Greg Evans, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2025
  • The film, inspired by the true story of a ruthless Hawaiian crime boss, promises to be a gripping portrayal of organized crime in the island paradise.
    Mark Davis, Newsweek, 15 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Is that the median voter assumes everyone is corrupt already?
    Bluesky Social, Bluesky Social, 11 Mar. 2025
  • The super-sized, standalone episode — arguably the boldest creative swing in Gemstones‘ history —functioned as a prologue to the show, one that explored the Gemstone family’s twisted, corrupt religious roots, circa 1862.
    Michael Ausiello, TVLine, 9 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • In this John le Carré adaptation, Brosnan plays Andy Osnard, a disgraced, unscrupulous, but unfailingly charming MI6 agent who sees a new assignment in an ultracorrupt Panama as a chance to accumulate money and power.
    Keith Phipps, Vulture, 19 Mar. 2025
  • Michael Douglas — Wall Street (1987) Gordon Gekko is a cunning and unscrupulous corporate predator who crystallized the Reagan-era ethos into three words.
    EW.com, EW.com, 2 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The notorious Sackler family, opioid pushers responsible for countless cases of addiction and death, can’t seem to settle their legal problems without turning to some kind of unprincipled maneuver.
    The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 2 Feb. 2025
  • Objective voters who watched the recent documentary about Lev Parnas, once a Trump ally, should fear a redux of a Cabinet running the government for an angry, unhinged, unprincipled man.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 1 Oct. 2024
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Machiavellian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Machiavellian. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

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