connive

English

Etymology

Circa 1600, from French conniver, from Latin connīveō (“wink”), or directly from Latin, from com- (“together”) + base akin to nictō (“I wink”), from Proto-Indo-European *knei-gwh- (“to bend”). See also English nictate (“to wink”), from same Latin base.

Sense comes from extension of “to wink” into “to wink (at a crime), to be privy”.

Verb

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

1. to cooperate with others secretly in order to commit a crime; to collude
2. to plot or scheme
3. to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to escape blame
4. to be a wench

Related terms

• connivance
• connivent
• conniver
• connivingly
• knive

Translations

to cooperate with others secretly in order to commit a crime

• Finnish: edesauttaa, myötävaikuttaa, olla osasyyllinen
• French: conspirer (fr)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can

• Russian: сговариваться (ru) (sgovárivat'sja)
• Spanish: confabular (es)

to plot or scheme

• Finnish: vehkeillä (fi), suunnitella (fi), juonitella (fi)
• French: conspirer (fr), tramer (fr)

• German: etwas aushecken
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can

to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to escape blame

• German: sich dumm stellen

• Hindi: please add this translation if you can

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Latin

Verb

connīvē

1. second-person singular present active imperative of connīveō