complicity

noun

com·​plic·​i·​ty kəm-ˈpli-s(ə-)tē 

plural complicities

1

: association or participation in or as if in a wrongful act

arrested for complicity in the crime

2

: an instance of complicity

The two share a complicity she calls fraternal.

—Joan Dupont

Synonyms

• collusion
• connivance
• conspiracy

Examples of complicity in a Sentence

There's no proof of her complicity in the murder.

He acted with his brother's complicity.

Recent Examples on the Web

Spurred by Russia’s brutal war and China’s complicity in that aggression, governments in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and across Europe have finally started the long overdue process of taking greater responsibility for their countries’ defense. —Robin Niblett, Foreign Affairs, 8 Jan. 2025

Now, some 80 years later, the names of those suspected of collaborating with the Nazis have been made public in the Netherlands as the country goes to new lengths to document the extent of its complicity in the horrors perpetrated by the Third Reich. —David Hodari, NBC News, 5 Jan. 2025

Her decision to speak openly about her experiences was not only a bid for personal justice, but also an effort to force society to confront its complicity in enabling such violence. —Chloe Laws, Glamour, 19 Dec. 2024

Central among those truths is Israel’s violent, decades-long subjugation of Palestinians, and US institutions’ complicity in sustaining what Coates sees as a system akin to Jim Crow. —Longreads, 18 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French complicité, borrowed from New Latin complicitāt-, complicitās, formed from Late Latin complic-, complex "fellow-participant, partner, accomplice" and Latin -itāt-, -itās -ity, probably after Late Latin duplicitās duplicity — more at complice

Note: The formation of the word is peculiar in that Latin -itāt-, -itās, along with its descendants and borrowings, is rarely added to nouns. Outside of the dictionaries of Thomas Blount and Elisha Coles, complicity is rare to non-existent in English text before the later eighteenth century, when its adoption was probably stimulated by French complicité.

First Known Use

circa 1656, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

complicity

noun

com·​plic·​i·​ty kəm-ˈplis-ət-ē 

plural complicities

: association or participation in a wrongful act