machination
mak-uh-NAY-shunnounMeaning a secret, crafty plot, usually meant to do harm
Memory hook a MACHINE for plotting. In his secret lab, Rex builds a giant machine with gears and levers, all to steal the town’s pie-contest trophy; his crafty plot is a machination.
Despite all her rival’s machinations, Lila won the spelling bee fair and square.
In context The king’s adviser smiled at court every day, but behind closed doors his machinations never stopped: he forged letters, bribed guards and plotted to seize the throne.
Similar plot, scheme, intrigue, conspiracy
From Latin machinatio, “a contrivance, a plot,” from machinari (to devise, to plot), from machina (machine).