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

The relocation plan is seen by Jordan as an existential threat to the small kingdom, a death knell for hopes of an eventual Palestinian state and tantamount to complicity in ethnic cleansing of Gaza. —Jane Arraf, NPR, 20 June 2025

Once more Bechdel gives us people grappling with their own political complicity, people whose lofty ideas about society far exceed their ability, or indeed willingness, to change it. —Andrea Long Chu, Vulture, 16 June 2025

The Receptionist is a jet-black comedy about bureaucracy and complicity that’s biting in its humor and chilling in its relevance. —Greg Evans, Deadline, 3 June 2025

But some groups also demand complicity as their entry criteria. —Rebecca Wright, CNN Money, 30 May 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