complicity

[kuhm-plis-i-tee]

noun

plural

complicities 

1. the state of being an accomplice; partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.

   complicity in a crime.

   Synonyms: connivance, implication, intrigue, collusion

complicity

/ kəmˈplɪsɪtɪ /

noun

1. the fact or condition of being an accomplice, esp in a criminal act

2. a less common word for complexity

Other Word Forms

• complicitous adjective
• noncomplicity noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of complicity¹

1650–60; < Late Latin complic-, stem of complex complice + -ity

Example Sentences

For two years, controversies have engulfed film festivals, popular TV shows produced in Israel have gone dark on American streaming platforms and escalating accusations of antisemitism and complicity in genocide have pitted artist against artist.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The video was the latest in many reports published by Navalnaya in the months after her husband’s death, which she promised to assiduously investigate as part of an effort to prove Kremlin complicity.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

“But we are here to interrupt a culture of silence.... Silence within the industry becomes complicity.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“And a lot of what was left of the PRI was criminal governance and complicity with criminal organizations.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"We urge you to take immediate action to end the UK's complicity in the horrors in Gaza," they said via an open letter, organised by the refugee charity Choose Love.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• collaboration 
• collusion 
• connivance 
• guilt 
• involvement 
• manipulation