connive

verb

kə-ˈnīv How to pronounce connive (audio)
Definition of connivenext
1
as in to ignore
to secretly sympathize with or pretend ignorance of something improper or unlawful the principal connived at all the school absences that were recorded on the day of the city's celebration of its Super Bowl victory

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to plot
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends suspects that his coworkers are conniving to get him fired

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of connive No dragons, of course, but plenty of political conniving, clashing swords and last-minute escapes. — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 10 Aug. 2026 Helen of Troy, whose abduction started the Trojan war, and her sister Clytemnestra, who connives to murder her husband Agamemnon. — Jim Beckerman, USA Today, 16 July 2026 Their rivals were a candid, impudent pair, the schoolgirlish Shakira and a throaty American bottle-service girl named Toni, both incapable of conniving their way into romance, prone to heartbreak, and swiftly ostracized for their overt judgment of other islanders. — Lillian Fishman, New Yorker, 27 June 2026 Daemon is one of the most clever, cunning and conniving characters in House of the Dragon, who always seems to have the upper hand. — Skyler Trepel, PEOPLE, 22 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for connive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for connive
  1. ignore
  2. plot
  3. wink
  4. scheme
Verb
  • Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has denied accusations that the government ignored warnings about an impending mass border crossing from Morocco to the enclave of Ceuta.
    — Jack Guy, CNN Money, 3 Sep. 2026
  • The numbers are impossible to ignore, while Boteli’s bustling physical profile — two-footed, quick, and comfortable through the middle or out wide — means that a move to Europe’s top five leagues will soon be on the cards.
    — Thom Harris, New York Times, 3 Sep. 2026
Definition of ignore
Verb
  • There’s also growing evidence that building a career inside a firm continues to be a more reliable route to success than trying to plot a path across companies.
    — Matthew Bidwell, Fortune, 28 Aug. 2026
  • Proper later allegedly admitted to plotting the UFC 250 attack and described it in full to the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.
    — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of plot
Verb
  • The woman at the center of a viral video who was seen winking and smiling at a camera during the Lindsay Clancy trial this week has been dropped by the magazine she was credentialed to cover the trial for.
    — Kelsie Cairns , Bryan Llenas, FOXNews.com, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The wry, winking tone still legible in its pages was an early iteration of the urbane magazine voice that powered nineteenth-century publications such as Judge and Puck, as well as later ones like The New Yorker, New York, Spy, and Gawker.
    — Eric Lach, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of wink
Verb
  • Hardly the smoking gun that puts him in an Afghan cave, scheming with bin Laden.
    — Lorraine Ali, Los Angeles Times, 3 Sep. 2026
  • Issa acts on that notion by encouraging a threesome between herself, Paul Baker, and Anton, who has spent much of the episode getting increasingly annoyed about being left out of everyone else’s scheming.
    — Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of scheme

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Cite this Entry

“Connive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/connive. Accessed 5 Sep. 2026.

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