1
as in ruses
a clever often underhanded means to achieve an end
an e-mail scheme to trick unwary Internet users into disclosing passwords and financial information
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2
as in plots
a secret plan for accomplishing evil or unlawful ends
a scheme to kidnap the president's daughter
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3
as in plans
a method worked out in advance for achieving some objective
a scheme to upgrade the city's mass transit system
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as in intrigues
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends
the town inspector had schemed to overlook the contractor's code violations in exchange for a substantial bribe
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of schemes
Todd Spangler, Variety, 28 Apr. 2026
Vrabel is truly an expert in NFL defensive schemes AND finding the way to a woman's heart.
—Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Jones, Rozier and Billups were among the more than 30 people charged between the two schemes.
—Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes.
—Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026
As with the Steam Deck version, the touchpads here are most useful as a replacement for the mouse in the many PC games that still aren’t designed with handheld control schemes in mind.
—ArsTechnica, 27 Apr. 2026
Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes.
—ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
According to some experts, this paralyzing fear and desperation are factors that scammers exploit to put their criminal schemes into action.
—Albinson Linares, NBC news, 26 Apr. 2026
Payne hopes to have similar production in the fall, especially with TCU incorporating more outside zone run schemes.
—Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Apr. 2026
Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Mar. 2026
Joy Randolph, follows a desperate gallery owner (Portman) who schemes to sell a dead man as art at Art Basel in Miami.
—Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 26 Jan. 2026
Chalamet embodies Marty’s arrant showmanship with an evident joy in performance, exactly as Marty himself schemes not only shamelessly but jubilantly.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2025
Matthew quickly schemes his way into Oliver’s orbit after that first performance, impressing and rankling the group of lackeys in his entourage at the same time.
—Eric Torres, Pitchfork, 27 Aug. 2025
Noun
With one year left and her throne on the line, Queen Mo — who is 39 — and her raven sidekick JoJo hatch increasingly desperate schemes.
—Todd Spangler, Variety, 28 Apr. 2026
Vrabel is truly an expert in NFL defensive schemes AND finding the way to a woman's heart.
—Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Jones, Rozier and Billups were among the more than 30 people charged between the two schemes.
—Michael McCann, Sportico.com, 28 Apr. 2026
Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes.
—Michael R. Sisak, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 2026
As with the Steam Deck version, the touchpads here are most useful as a replacement for the mouse in the many PC games that still aren’t designed with handheld control schemes in mind.
—ArsTechnica, 27 Apr. 2026
Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes.
—ABC News, 27 Apr. 2026
According to some experts, this paralyzing fear and desperation are factors that scammers exploit to put their criminal schemes into action.
—Albinson Linares, NBC news, 26 Apr. 2026
Payne hopes to have similar production in the fall, especially with TCU incorporating more outside zone run schemes.
—Steven Johnson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 20 Apr. 2026
Verb
Marty, who was loosely based on real-life ping-pong legend Marty Reisman, schemes his way to competitions across the globe and hustles for pocket cash.
—Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 9 Mar. 2026
Joy Randolph, follows a desperate gallery owner (Portman) who schemes to sell a dead man as art at Art Basel in Miami.
—Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 26 Jan. 2026
Chalamet embodies Marty’s arrant showmanship with an evident joy in performance, exactly as Marty himself schemes not only shamelessly but jubilantly.
—Richard Brody, New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2025
Matthew quickly schemes his way into Oliver’s orbit after that first performance, impressing and rankling the group of lackeys in his entourage at the same time.
—Eric Torres, Pitchfork, 27 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for schemes
Noun
-
Kids will quickly see through her ruses.—
Elise Broach,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
-
The New York Colored American reported that some offers of short-term work for Black men — moving livestock to or from Kentucky, for example — were ruses that ended with kidnappings.—
Equal Justice Initiative,
USA Today,
6 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Amid that frenzy, Gala Games sold the initial allotment of 4,661 NFT plots of Legacy land within days of first putting them up for public sale.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The roster includes several farmed by Robert Biale Vineyards, which produces seven vineyard-designate Zinfandels, a Barbera, and a Petite Sirah from Napa Valley plots planted between 1905 and the 1960s, more than half of which are home to vines dating back over 100 years.—
Mike DeSimone,
Robb Report,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Shopify has begun allowing merchants to accept USDC payments, and Western Union just announced plans to offer a stablecoin on the Solana blockchain.—
Jack Kubinec,
Fortune,
29 Apr. 2026
-
The attorney said Bjornstad had once hoped to pilot the app with Oregon State, but the ongoing situation has complicated those plans.—
Daniel Libit,
Sportico.com,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Sometimes the batteries on the trackers would run low, and McGovern’s team would need to remove and recharge the devices, before surreptitiously replacing them.—
Ed Caesar,
New Yorker,
30 Apr. 2026
-
In 2021, a critical vulnerability in Log4j—a logging library maintained by a handful of volunteers—exposed hundreds of millions of devices.—
Evan Johnson,
IEEE Spectrum,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The operation primarily centered around false and often bizarre claims about grand conspiracies and government wrongdoing.—
Rob Wile,
NBC news,
20 Apr. 2026
-
That’s what puts us in the bad position of believing in conspiracies.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
10 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The guide also offered practical advice in the form of meal and snack strategies, as well as menus and recipes.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
30 Apr. 2026
-
Weight-loss strategies can include increasing exercise and improving your diet.—
Mark Gurarie,
Verywell Health,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Davis occasionally destabilizes this very familiar soundtrack with sly production tricks from Horne.—
Emma Madden,
Pitchfork,
28 Apr. 2026
-
However, deer are adaptable creatures and often get used to the tricks put in their path, eventually ignoring attempts to deter them, Walke says.—
SJ McShane,
Martha Stewart,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Bridging the gap from the Championship to the Premier League is incredibly difficult, but Sunderland and Leeds United have offered differing blueprints of how it can be done.—
Andy Jones,
New York Times,
23 Apr. 2026
-
Researchers at Harvard have developed a fleet of robotic ants that mimic the self-organizing behavior of social insects to build and dismantle structures without blueprints or central leadership.—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
20 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Schemes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schemes. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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