collude

verb

col·lude | \ kə-ˈlüd

colluded; colluding; colludes

Definition of collude

: to work together secretly especially in order to do something illegal or dishonest : conspire, plot It was arithmetically possible, too, for a handful of senators … to collude with the president to approve a treaty betraying some vital interest to a foreign power.— Jack N. Rakove … the travails of the world's two biggest art-auction businesses, … rivals that now stand accused by the U.S. Justice Department of colluding to rig the auction market by fixing their sales-commission rates.— Robert Hughes … argues that while the kids are not entitled to collective representation, major universities are permitted to collude to prevent players from being paid for their work.— David Sirota

Synonyms Collude Has Latin Roots More Example Sentences Learn More about collude

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Collude Has Latin Roots

Our English "lude" words (allude, collude, delude, elude, and prelude) are based on the Latin verb ludere, meaning "to play." Collude dates back to 1525 and combines ludere and the prefix col-, meaning "with" or "together." The verb is younger than the related noun collusion, which appeared sometime in the 14th century with the specific meaning "secret agreement or cooperation." Despite their playful history, collude and collusion have always suggested deceit or trickery rather than good-natured fun.

Examples of collude in a Sentence

The two companies had colluded to fix prices. accused of colluding to block the sale of the vacant land

Recent Examples on the Web

In the months since, the league has repeated that argument, saying there was no effort to collude against Kaepernick and that any team’s decision to keep him off the field was a decision made independently. — P.r. Lockhart, Vox, "Colin Kaepernick’s collusion grievance against the NFL, explained," 6 Sep. 2018 At minimum, the episode is just another example of a person working for Trump who was eager to collude with Russia. — Jonathan Chait, Daily Intelligencer, "Will Trump Be Meeting With His Counterpart — Or His Handler?," 8 July 2018 Trump’s advisers believe the Cohen probe poses a greater threat than special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, the Times reports. — Martin Finucane, BostonGlobe.com, "Here’s your guide to the Stormy-Cohen-Trump-Hannity story," 17 Apr. 2018 Much of their private life was kept strictly secret, and the press and political institutions colluded to ensure that was the case. — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, "How Princess Margaret Paved the Way for the Younger Generation of Royals," 16 Feb. 2019 Indeed, public opinion is now so hopelessly cocooned that the president is under investigation for colluding with our primary geopolitical foe and more than half the country doesn’t give a damn. — Sean Illing, Vox, "Intellectuals have said democracy is failing for a century. They were wrong.," 20 Dec. 2018 In the mid 2000s what happened much more often was that basically these businessmen started colluding with politicians to get hold of things that only the politicians could provide. — Recode Staff, Recode, "How India fits into the global economy: It may not be China, but at least it isn’t Russia," 4 Aug. 2018 Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 presidential election and Mr. Trump has said his campaign didn’t collude with Russia. — Brent Kendall, WSJ, "Supreme Court Rules Against Mysterious Foreign Company," 8 Jan. 2019 Trump reportedly asked him last year to publicly state that his campaign did not collude with Russia, but Rogers wouldn’t do it. — Adam K. Raymond, Daily Intelligencer, "NSA Chief Mike Rogers’s Classified Retirement Memo Leaks," 5 Jan. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'collude.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.