Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian statesman and writer, whose work The Prince (1532) advises that acquiring and exercising power may require unethical methods.
Noun
Someone like Niccolò Machiavelli: a Machiavellian person
Origin
Probably from mal- + chiavello, in which the second component is a diminutive of chiavo. The name is attested in a Late Latin document in the form Malclavelli.
Modern English dictionary
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