connive
verb /kəˈnaɪv/
/kəˈnaɪv/
(formal, disapproving)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they connive | /kəˈnaɪv/ /kəˈnaɪv/ |
| he / she / it connives | /kəˈnaɪvz/ /kəˈnaɪvz/ |
| past simple connived | /kəˈnaɪvd/ /kəˈnaɪvd/ |
| past participle connived | /kəˈnaɪvd/ /kəˈnaɪvd/ |
| -ing form conniving | /kəˈnaɪvɪŋ/ /kəˈnaɪvɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive] connive at/in something to seem to allow something wrong to happen
- She knew that if she said nothing she would be conniving in an injustice.
- [intransitive] connive (with somebody) (to do something) to work together with somebody to do something wrong or illegal synonym conspire
- The government was accused of having connived with the security forces to permit murder.
Word Originearly 17th cent.: from French conniver or Latin connivere ‘shut the eyes (to)’, from con- ‘together’ + an unrecorded word related to nictare ‘to wink’.