MEANING
1. To knowingly allow or overlook wrongdoing without openly taking part.
2. To cooperate secretly in a scheme.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- connive at fraud
- connive in a deception
On the page
The official connived at the fraud by leaving the altered records unexamined.
She refused to connive in a deception merely because she had not devised it.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- connive
- Past tense
- connived
- Past participle
- connived
- Present participle
- conniving
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- connive
- Present continuous
- am/is/are conniving
- Present perfect
- have/has connived
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been conniving
- Past
- connived
- Past continuous
- was/were conniving
- Past perfect
- had connived
- Past perfect continuous
- had been conniving
- Future
- will connive
- Future continuous
- will be conniving
- Future perfect
- will have connived
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been conniving
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: connive; connives; connived; connived; conniving Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: connives.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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