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scheme

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noun [countable] American English pronunciation: scheme /skim/ 
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singularscheme
pluralschemes

Related dictionary definitions

  1. 1
    a plan for achieving something, especially something illegal or dishonest

    It sounds like just another crazy money-making scheme.

    a scheme to do something:

    a scheme to import illegal foreign goods

  2. 2
    a system for organizing or arranging information

    Libraries organize books according to a subject classification scheme.

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human-readable

able to be read and understood by people

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