conspire against sth
also conspire to do sth— phrasal verb with conspire uk/kənˈspaɪər/us/kənˈspaɪr/verb [ I ]
If events or conditions conspire against something or conspire to do something, they combine in such a way that they spoil your plans:
The weather had conspired to ruin their day out.
I'd planned a romantic evening together, but circumstances conspired against it - friends arrived unexpectedly and then Dave was called out to an emergency.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Preventing and impeding
- avert
- avoid
- avoidable
- bar
- be a drag on sb/sth idiom
- block sth out
- blot
- bottleneck
- derail
- fireproof
- hold out on sb
- hold sb/sth back
- holding pattern
- impede
- impedimenta
- prevention is better than cure idiom
- preventive
- prohibit
- pull
- pull the rug from under sb's feet idiom
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