complicity
Americannoun
plural
complicitiesnoun
-
the fact or condition of being an accomplice, esp in a criminal act
-
a less common word for complexity
Other Word Forms
- complicitous adjective
- noncomplicity noun
Etymology
Origin of complicity
1650–60; < Late Latin complic-, stem of complex complice + -ity
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.
In the courtroom, Ms Pelicot and her family sat through nearly four months of veiled insinuations and open accusations of complicity from both the defendants and their lawyers.
From BBC • Feb. 14, 2026
And he has a chance to, whether he knows it or not, he’s going to tell her about his feelings of strange complicity in something he had no responsibility for.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026
It unites the teller and those he is assured will laugh in complicity in its viciousness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025
That linguistic timidity —our inability to name what’s happening — is itself a form of complicity, and the result of a combination of fear and fecklessness.
From Salon • Nov. 13, 2025
But as she turned around, Blanca could have sworn she caught a wink of complicity between her husband and the cook.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
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.
