complicit

adjective

com·​plic·​it kəm-ˈpli-sət 

: helping to commit a crime or do wrong in some way

He was complicit in the cover-up.

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Complicit and Its Accomplices

Complicit is a relatively recent addition to English vocabulary, arriving in the mid-1800s. It is a back-formation from complicity “association or participation in a wrongful act,” which came straight from a French word of the same meaning, complicité, in the 1600s. The oldest English word in this family is the now-obsolete complice (pronounced /COMP-liss/)—defined as “an associate or accomplice especially in crime”—which dates back to the 1400s, when it came from French. These words ultimately derive from the Latin verb meaning “to fold together,” complicare, formed by combining com- (meaning “with,” “together,” or “jointly”) and the verb plicare, meaning “to fold.”

This literal meaning evolved into a figurative one: the definition of complicit, “helping to commit a crime or do wrong,” describes individuals who are “folded together” metaphorically. Complicity and the its cousins accomplice, complicitous, and complice are all part of this gang.

Complicare, in a second of its Latin senses, “to twist together,” is the root of another English word, complicate, which originally meant “to unite intimately by intertwining.” In this case, the idea of things “twisted together” makes sense as an image of something composed of many elements, that is, something complicated. The -pli- of these words is from plicare (“to fold”), which is also the root of ply, the verb meaning “to twist together” or the noun meaning “one of several layers.”

Other words that derive from plicare are also illuminated by their etymologies: explicit “revealed without ambiguity” ultimately comes from Latin explicare, meaning “to unfold,” while implicit, meaning “implied,” descends from a Latin verb whose roots literally mean “to fold in.”

Examples of complicit in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Every reliever except Yuki Matsui has been complicit, though Jeremiah Estrada’s unearned run came after the automatic runner was placed on second in the 10th inning on Wednesday. —Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 13 May 2025

Government forces and thousands of fighters — including from Sunni jihadist factions — beat back the loyalists but also hunted down Alawites, who share Assad’s religion and were seen by many Syrians as complicit in his policies. —Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 28 Apr. 2025

During the interview, Modi elaborated a fantastical theory of how India was the target of a global conspiracy, in which every Muslim in the country was likely complicit. —Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025

The women agree on a next move: Kate will kill Joe alone; the other women have been through too much and Kate, the white, privileged member of this trio, is prepared to do penance for her multitude of crimes and criminally complicit acts. —Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 25 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from complicity, probably after explicit, implicit

Note: Strictly speaking, the derivation of complicit from complicity is not a back-formation, unless -y is taken as the suffix -y entry 2, which seems unlikely. The derivation presumably depends on the acceptability of complicit beside the established words explicit and implicit. A regularly formed adjective derivative of complicity is complicitous.

First Known Use

1861, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for complicit

• elicit
• explicit
• illicit
• implicit
• solicit
• licit