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

There's no proof of his complicity in the crime.

2

: an instance of complicity

The two share a complicity she calls fraternal.

—Joan Dupont

Synonyms of complicity

• 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

Veiel, conducting a forensic examination of Riefenstahl’s archives and other sources, picks apart the myth the filmmaker propagated after World War II that absolved herself of any complicity in Nazi atrocities. —Matthew Carey, Deadline, 29 Dec. 2025

Her complicity has facilitated a drug smuggling operation through the prison that's lent them a foothold in Kingstown. —Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Dec. 2025

The deliberate exaggeration of both Lee’s performance and Park’s direction is what draws us into a suspension of moral disbelief, a sense of complicity with Man-su’s outrageous scheme. —Justin Chang, New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2025

The 23-year-old woman was taken into custody along with Newman and charged with complicity to commit robbery. —Bill Hutchinson, ABC News, 21 Dec. 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