colluding

American  

[kuh-loo-ding] / kəˈlu dɪŋ /

adjective

1. working together secretively with fraudulent or harmful intent.

   If the colluding witnesses have not agreed on the details being asked about, each witness will invent something.

   By acting like a monopoly, the colluding firms can set a monopoly price and generate monopoly profits.

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noun

1. the act or process of working together secretively with fraudulent or harmful intent.

   Both agencies took pains to be subtle and not make the colluding too obvious.

Etymology

Origin of colluding

First recorded in 1605–15; collud(e) ( def. ) + -ing ¹ ( def. ) for the noun; collud(e) ( def. ) + -ing ² ( def. ) for the adjective

Example Sentences

In a nation fed up with leaders seen as tolerating or colluding with organized crime, Manzo, 40, stood out.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026

Earlier this month, he was sentenced to 20 years in jail for colluding with foreign forces under the city's national security law.

From BBC • Feb. 25, 2026

With an attorney on the plaintiffs’ side of the lawsuit colluding with the city’s team, the city could settle the claims on favorable terms.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026

In December he was convicted of sedition and colluding with foreigners after an interminable trial that seemed designed to drag out his punishment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

Instinctively colluding in the conspiracy of their fiction, taking care not to decimate it with adult carelessness.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy