machiavel

Etymology

An Anglicisation of the Italian surname Machiavelli, as borne by Niccolò Machiavelli.

machiavel means A person who follows the principles laid down by Niccolò Machiavelli. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.

Why “machiavel” is a great word

MACHIAVEL — [Noun] A person who acts with cunning, duplicity, or unscrupulous pragmatism, especially in politics, based on the principles associated with Niccolò Machiavelli. An Anglicization of the Italian surname Machiavelli, as borne by Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527), the Florentine political philosopher. Unlike “Machiavellian,” which describes the amoral doctrine itself, or “schemer,” which implies petty, self-serving intrigue, a Machiavel is the incarnate calculus—the cold engine of statecraft made flesh. He is the counselor whispering of necessary evils in the shadow of the throne, the minister arranging a rival’s convenient accident, the sovereign whose warm smile is a calibrated feint—a monument to the sobering truth that effective governance is often a choice between one’s soul and the state’s stability, and that clean hands are merely empty ones.

noun

A person who follows the principles laid down by Niccolò Machiavelli.
A schemer or intriguer.“The distinction is between the anonymous Continental Op of the detective novel, the man of honour who must nevertheless walk down mean streets, and the thoroughgoing Machiavel, the man who has learned not to be good.”