connive
Americanverb (used without object)
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connives,
present (3rd person singular)
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connived,
past participle, past
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conniving
present participle
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to cooperate secretly; conspire (often followed bywith ).
They connived to take over the business.
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to avoid noticing something that one is expected to oppose or condemn; give aid to wrongdoing by forbearing to act or speak (usually followed byat ).
The policeman connived at traffic violations.
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to be indulgent toward something others oppose or criticize (usually followed byat ).
to connive at childlike exaggerations.
verb
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to plot together, esp secretly; conspire
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(foll by at) law to give assent or encouragement (to the commission of a wrong)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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connivesimple
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connivessimple
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have connivedperfect
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has connivedperfect
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am connivingprogressive
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are connivingprogressive
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is connivingprogressive
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have been connivingperfect progressive
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has been connivingperfect progressive
Past
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connivedsimple
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had connivedperfect
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was connivingprogressive
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were connivingprogressive
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had been connivingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of connive
1595–1605; (< French conniver ) < Latin co ( n ) nīvēre to close the eyes in sleep, turn a blind eye, equivalent to con- con- + -nīvēre, akin to nictāre to blink ( cf. nictitate)
Explanation
To connive is to plan or plot to do something illegal or wrong. Conniving is considered dishonest and cowardly. If someone accuses you of conniving, that's definitely not a compliment. Conniving usually occurs in secret, and people who connive are up to no good. Criminals planning a bank robbery are conniving. Crooked politicians looking for a bribe are conniving. Villains connive, and conniving is associated with conspiracies and dishonesty. The opposite of conniving is being honest and straightforward.
Vocabulary lists containing connive
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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"The Censors," Vocabulary from the short story
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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.
See Examples For:
It stars Brian Cox as the Roy family patriarch and Jeremy Strong as one of his children, who connive to succeed their father as the company’s leader.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2023
Actually, she doesn't and she will manipulate, exploit and connive anyone without giving it a second thought if it serves her best interests.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2022
Their claims have been amplified in recent weeks, as the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal revealed how well-off families connive to get kids into selective colleges.
From Slate ● Apr. 3, 2019
Mr. Berger understood — as does Ms. Dunham — that the function of the mirror was “to make the woman connive in treating herself as, first and foremost, a sight.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2017
This was in defiance of the spirit, if not the letter, of Booth’s promises, and Mr. Smith would not connive at what he considered a deception.
From Salvation Syrup; Or, Light On Darkest England by G. W. (George William) Foote
It’s a con-artist film — poor family connives its way into jobs serving a younger, wealthy quartet — and the con rides an elevator from comically to tragically desperate.
From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2020
Secretly, though, he dresses up as a friar and connives behind the scenes to thwart Angelo's decisions and to save Claudio.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2017
To wrap things up: House connives to get Park to disobey an order he knows is wrong so that she will learn to stand up for herself.
From Time ● Nov. 1, 2011
Instead, Ferris just connives to use Cameron for things Cameron has that Ferris does not.
From Salon ● Aug. 22, 2011
To protect one's self everyone connives against everyone else.
From The Vision of Sir Launfal And Other Poems by James Russell Lowell; Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Julian W. Abernethy, PH.D. by James Russell Lowell
Murdaugh’s lawyers contend that Hill connived to have a juror removed—the so-called Egg Lady—because Hill feared she wasn’t inclined to convict.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
But the Manhattan district attorney’s office says the defendants connived to obscure the documents’ disputed ownership, despite knowing that Henley said the pages were stolen.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 19, 2024
But for years she waylaid me on the street to complain and raised that incident at meetings to prove the editors connived with the paid Coop staff to prevent pro-democracy voices from being heard.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022
Crowned and uncrowned, during periods of supposedly republican government and not, they largely ruled the city-state, or connived to, from the mid-14th to the mid-18th centuries, using art to cement their power.
From New York Times ● Jun. 24, 2021
Bono had, I ascertained, connived to secrete them when we had removed to this house from the town; having no use for them upon his exile, he had left them for me.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
No dragons, of course, but plenty of political conniving, clashing swords and last-minute escapes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The couple's daughter, Athena, who appeared via video-link from the US, told the court her father was a "jealous, conniving, narcissistic villain".
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
SantaCon’s conniving leader gives New Yorkers another reason to hate the yearly bar crawl.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026
At a Saturday briefing for high ranking military officers first reported by the Journal, Gen. Zhang was accused of everything from conniving at corruption with family members to spilling nuclear secrets to the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026
He was probably frowning, deep in character as Richard III, the conniving, hunchbacked king of England, but inside, Halsey was chuckling away.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
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.
