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Oct 29, 2009
This week's theme
Eponyms

This week's words
byronic
orwellian
manichean
machiavellian
draconian

Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli
Art: Santi di Tito, 16th c.

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Machiavellian

PRONUNCIATION:
(mak-ee-uh-VEL-ee-uhn)

MEANING:
adjective: Characterized by cunning, deception, and expediency.

ETYMOLOGY:
After Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine statesman and author of The Prince, a political treatise describing use of craft and deceit to achieve political power.

USAGE:
"Rumours of Machiavellian plots and conspiracy theories have permeated the period of mourning."
Darryl Broadfoot; Mitchell: End the Revisionism; The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland); Nov 23, 2007.

See more usage examples of machiavellian in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. -Isaac Asimov, scientist and writer (1920-1992)

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