machination
/ˌmækɪˈneɪʃən/noun
machination is spelled M-A-C-H-I-N-A-T-I-O-N: 11 letters and 4 syllables. It appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 145,125th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, machination means “A clever scheme or artful plot, usually crafted for evil purposes” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of machination is machinations.
How many letters and syllables are in machination?
| Letters | 11: M-A-C-H-I-N-A-T-I-O-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 4 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 23 million words; the 145,125th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is machination?
Machination appears about once in every 23 million words in written English, the 145,125th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce machination?
- /ˌmækɪˈneɪʃən/
- /ˌmæʃɪˈneɪʃən/
Machination has 4 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-machination.ogg, En-au-machination.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of machination
- machinations plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does machination mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A clever scheme or artful plot, usually crafted for evil purposes.
- 2
The act of machinating or plotting.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Machination in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense clever scheme or artful plot, usually crafted for evil purposes:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | machination |
| German | Machenschaft |
| Portuguese | maquinação |
| Spanish | maquinación |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does machination come from?
From Middle English machynacion, machynacyon, from Middle French machination and directly Latin māchinātiōnem, from māchinor (“devise, invent”). By surface analysis, machinate + -ion or machine + -ation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).