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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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.
“Even working on safety at Anthropic felt like being complicit in the race,” he said in the interview.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Sadly, we are complicit in this occluding of authentic experience.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
One of the key counter-arguments centres on the fact that some Africans were themselves complicit in the capture and sale of their fellow people.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
In the process, she gutted the ATS—a law signed by President George Washington in 1789—and slammed the door on countless suits against corporations complicit in human rights abuses.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“They either die fighting for what’s right and leave you an unprotected baby,” she says, “or they become complicit with what’s wrong and keep you alive.”
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
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.
