conspire

verb con·spire \ kən-ˈspī(-ə)r \

|Updated on: 13 Jun 2018

Definition of conspire

conspired; conspiring

: plot, contrive

1 a : to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement

accused of conspiring to overthrow the government

conspired to monopolize and restrict trade

b : scheme

2 : to act in harmony toward a common end

Circumstances conspired to defeat his efforts.

… the sun and the wind conspired to make splinters out of solid wood.
—B. J. Oliphant

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Examples of conspire in a Sentence

conspired to replace the leader with someone more easily influenced
foul weather and airline foul-ups seemed to be conspiring to ruin our vacation

Recent Examples of conspire from the Web

Last year, a federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit that had been filed by a former San Francisco 49ers cheerleader who had accused the NFL and team owners of conspiring to suppress wages for cheerleaders.

— CBS News, "Ex-NFL cheerleaders sue Houston Texans, allege intimidation and low pay," 1 June 2018
Vallodolid and Nieto also each conspired to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 100 kilograms or more of marijuana as part of the conspiracy, the release states.

— becky jacobs, Post-Tribune, "Latin King members convicted of conspiracy linked to fatal shooting of Lansing teen," 30 May 2018
Davenport and Tanner, meanwhile, conspired to use the specialty pharmacy, which was shepherding prescriptions for some Valeant drugs, as a way to enrich themselves, according to the complaint filed by prosecutors.

— ed silverman, STAT, "Former Valeant executive is found guilty in kickback scheme," 22 May 2018
Jurors found Cordero and Velasquez guilty of conspiring to commit murder for hire following a trial that lasted more than a week in Youngstown federal court.

— eric heisig, cleveland.com, "Lorain man, prison inmate convicted of murder-for-hire plot against Ohio woman," 8 May 2018
The website’s founders are under federal indictment on charges of conspiring to knowingly facilitate prostitution offenses through the website.

— ronald j. hansen, azcentral, "Kyrsten Sinema took thousands from California congressman accused of molesting girl," 7 May 2018
And although Harding is clearly starting a new chapter in her life and her career, there's at least one DWTS competitor who hasn't forgotten about the 1994 Nancy Kerrigan incident, where Harding was accused of conspiring to injure her competitor.

— jamie ballard, Good Housekeeping, "Tonya Harding Broke Down Crying on “Dancing With the Stars” Last Night," 1 May 2018
At one time or another he's seen a Lincoln family bed, a desk from the courthouse where Lee surrendered to Grant, and the original document ordering the execution of the people convicted of conspiring in the president's assassination.

— steve heisler, Chicago Reader, "Archive Dive / Chicagoans / Politics Daniel Weinberg loves Abraham Lincoln (and especially Abraham Linclon) more than you do," 12 Apr. 2018
Pavan Vaswani, 39, of West Haven, and Rishi Malik, 45, of Fairfield, are charged in a 13-count indictment with conspiring to underreport taxes between 2013 and 2017.

— edmund h. mahony, courant.com, "Feds Say Tobacco Dealers Bilked State Of $5.8 Million In Taxes," 12 Jan. 2018

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