complicit
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of complicit
First recorded in 1855–60; back formation from complicity
Compare meaning
How does complicit compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
When you're complicit, you're guilty of being involved in some underhanded or illegal activity. If you see your brother steal the neighbor's cat and don't say anything, you're complicit in a catnapping! Whenever someone makes it easier for a crime or wrongdoing to be committed, they're complicit in it. A getaway driver may not have actually robbed a bank, but she's still complicit in the crime of robbery because she helped the robber. And you may not be responsible for taking the neighbor's cat, but if you suggested to your brother that nobody would notice if he did (and promised not to tell), you're completely complicit!
Vocabulary lists containing complicit
Founding Brothers
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This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for January 9–15, 2021
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Banned Book Club
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Mark Cuban’s comments saying that Dallas Mavericks coach Jason Kidd was complicit in the trade of superstar Luka Doncic to the Lakers perhaps contributed to Kidd’s firing.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2026
How much can you allow yourself to be complicit in?
From Slate • Jun. 17, 2026
That doesn’t mean Christians should be complicit in keeping people poor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026
Brittan, from Devon, who spoke to the BBC after waiving her automatic lifelong right to anonymity, described the Met as "shambolic, incompetent and complicit".
From BBC • Jun. 3, 2026
Wittingly or unwittingly, they found themselves complicit in the emergence of a penal system unprecedented in world history.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
