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:
Upon arrival, the men connive to set up shop at a rest house for travelers, despite having not made reservations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
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
The milieu of the book paints a picture of a treehouse where like minds connive and look for an opening.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2014
If she thus in the first outburst of her anger rejected the idea of bringing punishment upon him, she might, when more composed, be brought to connive at and share his flight.
From Only a Girl: or, A Physician for the Soul. by Wilhelmine von Hillern
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
Eli Gold is the blustering Machiavellian fixer who connives to resurrect the political career of her husband, Peter Florrick.
From The Guardian ● May 1, 2016
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
Is it nothing that mamma out of pity to me connives at our meeting and spending hours together?
From Hard Cash by Charles Reade
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
The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were conceived, convinced, connived, inconvenienced and invoiced.
From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2022
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
In closing arguments to the jury, Freedman said Wright schemed and connived to “steal from his dead best friend with forgery and lies.”
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 6, 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
Netflix has crafted a conniving production model that benefits the indiscriminate philistines in charge.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
SantaCon’s conniving leader gives New Yorkers another reason to hate the yearly bar crawl.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026
I love their coach, their quarterback, their coolness, their momentum, their journey without the conniving Bill Belichick.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
She may be a conniving opportunist; she may be an abused and desperate woman simply hoping for a better life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
She had been despised as an underhanded and conniving witch since her days with Caesar.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
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.
