If you describe someone as calculating, you disapprove of the fact that they deliberately plan to get what they want, often by hurting or harming other people.
[disapproval]
Northbridge is a cool, calculating and clever criminal who could strike again.
Synonyms: scheming, designing, sharp, shrewd More Synonyms of calculating
calculating in British English
(ˈkælkjʊˌleɪtɪŋ)
adjective
1.
selfishly scheming
2.
shrewd; cautious
Derived forms
calculatingly (ˈcalcuˌlatingly)
adverb
calculating in American English
(ˈkælkjəˌleɪtɪŋ)
adjective
1.
shrewd or cunning, esp. in a selfish way; scheming
2.
performing calculations
Examples of 'calculating' in a sentence
calculating
He glanced at his watch, calculating the hours left to kill.
Mark Mills AMAGANSETT (2004)
Jenny, I just couldn't get over the feeling that she was waiting, calculating, stalling in some way.
Peter Robinson AFTERMATH (2004)
The calculating Mr Livingstone, Arnold guessed, would be far more interested in profit than environment.
Lewis, Roy A TROUT IN THE MILK (2004)
He slipped after a time into a kind of waking sleep, his mind lucid but frozen, contemplating nothing, calculating nothing.
Robert Silverberg MAJIPOOR CHRONICLES (2004)
In other languages
calculating
British English: calculating ADJECTIVE
If you describe someone as calculating, you disapprove of the fact that they deliberately plan to get what they want, often by hurting or harming other people.
He is a cool, calculating and clever criminal who could strike again.
American English: calculating
Brazilian Portuguese: calculista
Chinese: 精明的
European Spanish: calculador
French: calculateur
German: berechnend
Italian: calcolatore
Japanese: 打算的な
Korean: 계산적인
European Portuguese: calculista
Latin American Spanish: calculador
(adjective)
Definition
selfishly scheming
He is a cool, calculating and clever criminal.
Synonyms
scheming
a cold, scheming villain
designing
the wily cunning of a designing hypocrite
sharp
shrewd
She's a shrewd businesswoman.
a shrewd guess
cunning
He's a cunning, devious, good-for-nothing so-and-so.
contriving
sly
He is devious, sly and manipulative.
canny
He was far too canny to risk giving himself away.
devious
She tracked down the other woman by devious means.
manipulative
She described him as cold, calculating and manipulative.
crafty
That crafty old devil had taken us all for a ride.
Machiavellian
the Machiavellian and devious way decisions were made
politic
cautious
Opposites
open
,
direct
,
frank
,
blunt
,
sincere
,
outspoken
,
honest
,
downright
,
guileless
,
undesigning
Additional synonyms
in the sense of canny
Definition
shrewd or cautious
He was far too canny to risk giving himself away.
Synonyms
shrewd,
knowing,
sharp,
acute,
careful,
wise,
clever,
subtle,
cautious,
prudent,
astute,
on the ball (informal),
artful,
judicious,
circumspect,
perspicacious (formal),
sagacious (formal),
worldly-wise
in the sense of crafty
Definition
skilled in deception
That crafty old devil had taken us all for a ride.
Synonyms
cunning,
scheming,
sly,
devious,
knowing,
designing,
sharp,
calculating,
subtle,
tricky,
shrewd,
astute,
fraudulent,
canny,
wily,
insidious,
artful,
foxy,
deceitful,
duplicitous,
tricksy,
guileful
in the sense of cunning
Definition
clever at deceiving
He's a cunning, devious, good-for-nothing so-and-so.