Ma·chi·a·vel·li 
(măk′ē-ə-vĕlē, mä′kyä-), Niccolò 1469-1527.
(măk′ē-ə-vĕlē, mä′kyä-), Niccolò 1469-1527. Italian political theorist whose book The Prince (1513) describes the achievement and maintenance of power by a determined ruler indifferent to moral considerations.