scheme

English Online Dictionary. What means scheme‎? What does scheme mean?

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin schēma (“figure, form”), from Ancient Greek σχῆμα (skhêma, “form, shape”), from ἔχω (ékhō, “I hold”). Doublet of schema. Compare sketch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skiːm/
• Rhymes: -iːm

Noun

scheme (plural schemes)

1. (rhetoric, obsolete) An artful deviation from the ordinary arrangement of words. [16th–17th c.]
2. (astrology) A representation of the aspects of the celestial bodies for any moment or at a given event. [from 17th c.]
3. A systematic plan of future action. [from 18th c.]
4. A plot or secret, devious plan.
5. An orderly combination of related parts.
6. A chart or diagram of a system or object.
   • April 29, 1694, Robert South, A Sermon Preached at Westminster Abbey

     to draw an exact scheme of Constantinople, or a map of France

7. (mathematics) A mathematical structure that generalizes the notion of an algebraic variety in several ways, such as taking account of multiplicities and allowing "varieties" defined over any commutative ring. Formally, a locally ringed space that admits a covering by open sets, each of which is isomorphic to an affine scheme (i.e. the spectrum of some commutative ring).
8. (UK, chiefly Scotland, colloquial) A council housing estate. [from 20th c.]
9. (Internet) Part of a uniform resource identifier indicating the protocol or other purpose, such as http: or news:.
10. (UK, pensions) A portfolio of pension plans with related benefits comprising multiple independent members.

Usage notes

In the US, generally has devious connotations, while in the UK, frequently used as a neutral term for projects: “The road is closed due to a pavement-widening scheme.”

Synonyms

• (a systematic plan of future action): blueprint

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Irish: scéim
• → Malay: skim

Translations

Verb

scheme (third-person singular simple present schemes, present participle scheming, simple past and past participle schemed)

1. (intransitive) To plot, or contrive a plan.
2. (transitive) To plan; to contrive.

Translations

References

• “scheme, n.¹”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2022.
• Silva Rhetoricae

Anagrams

• Meches

Hunsrik

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃeːmə/

Verb

scheme

1. (reflexive) to be ashamed

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Derived from English scheme.

Noun

scheme (plural scheme dem, quantified scheme)

1. housing scheme; council estate; a housing project; neighbourhood.

Middle Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon skimo (“shadow”). Originally masculine.

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ē¹
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /skɪəmə/

Noun

scheme m or f

1. A shadow, a shade; a darkness created by an object obstructing light
2. A shadow, a shade; something which is barely perceptible or not physical

   ...lose se van der walt der dusternisse unde van deme scheme des dodes. (" ...free them from the power of darkness and the shadow of death." )

3. A shimmer; a soft or weak occurrence of light
4. twilight; the lighting conditions at dusk and dawn
5. A face mask
6. aureola

Alternative forms

• sceme