conspire

American  

[kuhn-spahyuhr] / kənˈspaɪər /

verb (used without object)

conspired, conspiring

1. to agree together, especially secretly, to do something wrong, evil, or illegal.

   They conspired to kill the king.

   Synonyms:

   intrigue, complot

2. to act or work together toward the same result or goal.

   The wind and rain conspired to strip the trees of their fall color.

   Synonyms:

   cooperate, concur, combine

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verb (used with object)

conspired, conspiring

1. to plot (something wrong, evil, or illegal).

conspire British  

/ kənˈspaɪə /

verb

1. to plan or agree on (a crime or harmful act) together in secret

2. (intr) to act together towards some end as if by design

   the elements conspired to spoil our picnic

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Usage

What does conspire mean? Conspire commonly means to secretly plan with multiple other people to do something wrong, evil, or illegal. Such a plan is called a conspiracy. Conspiracy can also refer to the act of making such plans—the act of conspiring—or to the group making the plans. The people involved can be called conspirators. In a legal context, conspiracy refers to an agreement by two or more people conspiring to commit a crime. Conspire can also mean to act together to achieve some result. This use often likens inanimate objects to people engaging in a conspiracy, as in I was on time until the traffic and the weather conspired to make me late. Example: In the movie, supervillains conspire to steal all of the world’s bananas.

Related Words

See plot.

Other Word Forms

• conspirer noun
• conspiringly adverb
• nonconspiring adjective
• preconspire verb
• unconspired adjective
• unconspiring adjective
• unconspiringly adverb

Etymology

Origin of conspire

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Middle French conspirer, from Latin conspīrāre “to act in harmony, conspire,” equivalent to con- + spīrāre “to breathe”; con-, spirant, spirit

Explanation

When you conspire, you collaborate with others to do harm, or maybe just keep something from happening, like a group that conspires to get tuna melts booted from the lunch menu by urging everyone to order other things. You can conspire with someone, meaning you team up with another person to plot against someone else, or you can conspire against someone. This means you devise a scheme to do that person harm. Conspire also can be used in a more figurative sense to describe events that cause problems, like bad weather that may conspire against your picnic plans, or a series of injuries that conspire against a basketball team struggling to make the playoffs.

Example Sentences

The lawsuit claimed the group of advertisers had acted against their own economic self-interest to conspire against the platform - saying this violated US antitrust laws designed to promote fair competition between companies.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

In popular usage, it assumes the thing signified must be false, whereas people do conspire, and it is reasonable to devise theories about their schemes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

“All of these things are going to conspire to keep what we call the uncertainty index elevated,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 16, 2025

Circumstances can conspire against us, but there should be room for improvement.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 28, 2025

That plan failed, but it would not be surprising for Arsinoe to convince Ptolemy XIV to conspire with her against their sister.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby

Related Words

• collude
• connive
• cooperate