complicit

[ kuhm-plis-it ]

adjective

1. choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having complicity.

complicit

/ ˌkɒmˈplɪsɪt /

adjective

1. involved with others in reprehensible or illegal activity

Word History and Origins

Origin of complicit¹

First recorded in 1855–60; back formation from complicity

Word History and Origins

Origin of complicit¹

C20: back formation from complicity

Example Sentences

With his support, Reagan took action against terrorists and the states that sponsored them, including the bombing of Libya in 1986 after it was found complicit in the bombing of a Berlin disco in which two American servicemen died.

From Washington Post

What must happen is an in-depth investigation of the Capitol Hill police, which may find some were complicit with the mob.

From Washington Blade

Others suggested that police were perhaps complicit with the insurrectionists, many of whom express pro-police beliefs.

From Time

It shows how girls are also complicit by dwelling on size themselves – and assuming that it’s linked to sexual performance and masculinity.

From No Straight News

Some 100,000 Christians from Mosul alone were among those who fled their homes, returning years later to live uneasily alongside Muslim residents who they saw as complicit in the attacks.

From Science News

They are both complicit in this, though my mother is the more egregious offender.

From The Daily Beast

After all, doing so would make them complicit in irrationality, which is against their religion.

From The Daily Beast

At the age of sixteen these bad guys chase you, often under the amused and complicit watch of policemen.

From The Daily Beast

Even the five who the Nazis turned on, however, were complicit with the regime in some fashion.

From The Daily Beast

But my silence was not only wrong; I am complicit on some level in nurturing the “rape culture” that we see today in our country.

From The Daily Beast

The United States could have accepted the permanent division of Europe, and been complicit in the oppression of others.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• conniving