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

• conspiracy
• collusion
• connivance

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

Such complicity will damage national security by strengthening enemies, driving away allies, harming international trade, increasing nuclear proliferation, encouraging new wars of territorial conquest, and ending America’s role as leader of the free world. —Dp Opinion, Denver Post, 23 Oct. 2025

The self has long been a product; what’s new, perhaps, is the clarity and complicity of the transaction. —Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 20 Oct. 2025

Silence is complicity; protection is discipleship. —Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 19 Oct. 2025

And by this point in its popularity, rock and roll already feels more like complicity than subversion. —David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 17 Oct. 2025

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

Rhymes for complicity

• basicity
• chronicity
• cyclicity
• duplicity
• ethnicity
• facticity
• felicity
• helicity
• plasticity
• publicity
• rusticity
• simplicity

Kids Definition

complicity

noun

com·​plic·​i·​ty kəm-ˈplis-ət-ē 

plural complicities

: association or participation in a wrongful act