different between connive vs complicit

English

Etymology

From French conniver (“to ignore and thus become complicit in wrongdoing”), or directly from its etymon Latin conn?v?re, c?n?v?re, third-person plural perfect active indicative of conn?ve?, c?n?ve? (“to close or screw up the eyes, blink, wink; to overlook, turn a blind eye, connive”) (perhaps alluding to two persons involved in a scheme together winking to each other), from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) + *n?v?re (related to nict? (“to blink, wink”), from Proto-Indo-European *kneyg??- (“to bend, droop”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /k??na?v/
• Rhymes: -a?v
• Hyphenation: con?nive

Verb

connive (third-person singular simple present connives, present participle conniving, simple past and past participle connived)

1. (intransitive) To secretly cooperate with other people in order to commit a crime or other wrongdoing; to collude, to conspire. [from mid 17th c.]
2. (intransitive, botany, rare) Of parts of a plant: to be converging or in close contact; to be connivent.
3. (intransitive, obsolete) Often followed by at: to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to escape blame; to ignore or overlook a fault deliberately.

   Synonyms: (rare) dissimulate, look the other way, shut one's eyes, turn a blind eye, wink
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• connivance
• connivent
• nictate

Translations

References

Latin

Verb

conn?v?

1. second-person singular present active imperative of conn?ve?

English

Etymology

Back-formation from complicity, most likely, which from French complicité, from complice (“partner, accomplice”), from Latin complex, complicem (“partner”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /k?m?pl?s.?t/
• Rhymes: -?s?t

Adjective

complicit (comparative more complicit, superlative most complicit)

1. Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
   • 1973, Angus Wilson, As If by Magic, Secker and Warburg, p. 177:

     "I confess," and the Englishman turned with a near complicit grin to Hamo, "I have certain vulgar tastes myself."

   • 2005, Larry Dennsion, "Letters," Time, 7 March:

     Khan's sale of nuclear secrets and a complicit Pakistani government have made the world a ticking time bomb.

Synonyms

• complicitous

Derived terms

• complicitly

Related terms

• complicity

Translations

References

• “complicit” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.