complicity
[kuh m-plis-i-tee]
- the state of being an accomplice; partnership or involvement in wrongdoing: complicity in a crime.
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Origin of complicity
Synonyms
See more synonyms for complicity on Thesaurus.comcollusion, intrigue, implication, connivance.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for complicity
Contemporary Examples
We were never asked to confront our own complicity as sponsors of the game.
What sports pundits rarely bother to do is confront themselves, or their audiences, about their complicity in this pattern.
It is a site devoted to ending all privacy and putting everything in public view, with our complicity and cooperation.
For his complicity Murmelstein has forever been branded a traitor, but for him the decision was a no-brainer.
Confessions of a Death Camp Collaborator: Claude Lanzmann’s ‘The Last of the Unjust’Jimmy So
February 7, 2014
If Pakistani complicity in the program was exposed, the theory went, why not at least try to downplay its negative fallout.
U.S. Drone Program Needs to Be Accompanied by Hard Facts on Civilian DeathsDaniel Klaidman
November 8, 2013
Historical Examples
Was I, too, not visited with consequences of the original offence in which I had no complicity?
Little DorritCharles Dickens
But the miller did not suspect her of complicity in the affair.
It does not matter now how far his complicity may be betrayed by his papers.
The Lion's SkinRafael Sabatini
What shocked him most was the implied aspersion of complicity on Mrs Anthony.
ChanceJoseph Conrad
What shocked him most was the implied aspersion of complicity on Mrs. Anthony.
ChanceJoseph Conrad
complicity
- the fact or condition of being an accomplice, esp in a criminal act
- a less common word for complexity
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for complicity
n.
1650s, from French complicité, from Old French complice "accomplice, comrade, companion" (14c.), from Late Latin complicem, accusative of complex "partner, confederate," from Latin complicare "to fold together" (see complicate; also cf. accomplice).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper