complicit

WOTD - 17 September 2008    

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /kəmˈplɪs.ɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪsɪt

Adjective

complicit (comparative more complicit, superlative most complicit)

1. Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
   • 1861, Henry M. Wheeler, The Slaves' Champion, p. 203,

     It [slavery] has set the seal of a complicit, guilty silence upon the most orthodox pulpits and the saintliest tongues, […]

   • 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

associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature

French: complice (fr)

Russian: замешанный

References

• “complicit” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.