mastermind

plural masterminds

1. A person with an extraordinary intellect or skill that is markedly superior to their peers.

   At long intervals some master-minds appeared, looking upon each advance in practical science as a retro-gradation in the true utility.

   1840, Edgar Allan Poe, The Colloquy of Monos and Una

   1 more example

   His first outside hire wasn't an electronics whiz or a mechanical mastermind, but a young industrial designer, a creature hitherto unknown at DEKA.

   2003, Steve Kemper, chapter 2, in Code Name Ginger: the Story Behind Segway and Dean Kamen's Quest to Invent a New World, →ISBN, page 34

2. idiomaticA person responsible for the highest level of planning and execution of a major operation.

   The first was with none other than Khalid Sheikh Mohammad (KSM), mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

   2007, Mark S. Hamm, chapter 6, in Terrorism as Crime: from Oklahoma City to Al-Qaeda and Beyond, →ISBN, page 196

   1 more example

   Prosecutors later suspected that Wang, chairman of Ciji Temple in Tainan's Syuejia District, was the mastermind behind the shootings, but the court acquitted him of the charge because of insufficient evidence.

   2025 March 14, Hsieh Hsin-en, Ko Lin, “Supreme Court upholds verdicts in 2022 Tainan shooting case”, in Focus Taiwan, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2025, Society

present singular third person masterminds · participle present masterminding · participle past masterminded · past masterminded

1. transitiveTo plan or execute (a project) in the role of mastermind.

   It would later be revealed that the corporation contributed over a quarter of a million dollars to the effort—a whopping 93 percent of the total coffer—and hired a team of media and political experts to mastermind it.

   2007, Kevin Danaher et al., Building the Green Economy: Success Stories from the Grassroots, →ISBN, page 136

   2 more examples

   Travelling over the route today, it is well to remember the ongoing role of the Friends of the S&C and the work of the late Ron Cotton. He masterminded its revival, thereby reversing the role he had been given by BR to bring about its closure.

   2020 July 1, David Allen, “Signalling from Leeds along the S&C”, in Rail, page 78

   Gray was soon replaced by Morgan McSweeney, who had masterminded Labour’s unexpectedly rapid post-Jeremy Corbyn renaissance, but was equally unsuited to the role, and whose primary legacy was the disastrous appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.

   2026 June 22, Peter Walker, “Frozen by the challenges of power: how Starmer turned triumph into tragedy”, in The Guardian, →ISSN