complicity
Americannoun
noun
-
the fact or condition of being an accomplice, esp in a criminal act
-
a less common word for complexity
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of complicity
1650–60; < Late Latin complic-, stem of complex complice + -ity
Explanation
Complicity is involvement in a wrongful act — like when you drove your newly-turned-vegetarian friend to a fast food joint so that she could scarf down a hamburger. Complicity refers to the act of helping someone else behave inappropriately or illegally. If you find yourself accused of complicity, it's often helpful to show that you were unaware of the other person's intentions. In the case of the trip to the fast food restaurant, that's going to be hard to prove. You'll probably be scorned for being an accomplice, or someone who is complicit, in your friend's shameful act.
Vocabulary lists containing complicity
Animal Farm
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The Things They Carried
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Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam
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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.
But to say they choose to live on the street, as Pratt has, is to miss the point, to excuse our own complicity, to overlook historic policy failures, and to choose contempt over compassion.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
What if we could avoid our taxpayer’s complicity, without forgoing the benefits of a common tax system?
From Slate • May 11, 2026
Relations strained further when US troops killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil in 2011 without telling Islamabad, and Pakistan faced accusations of complicity in harbouring the fugitive.
From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026
Some have gone further, citing emails in which women expressed gratitude or warmth toward Epstein as evidence of complicity or consent.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
About what complicity really means and how it can be passed on.
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.
