conspire

verb con·spire \ kən-ˈspī(-ə)r \

Updated on: 16 May 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

But advertising, peer pressure, and public policies conspire against children’s health, as do busy family schedules, ubiquitous fast food restaurants, and the shrinking number of families who sit down to a meal together every day.

— hattie bernstein, BostonGlobe.com, "Teaching young kids how to junk bad eating habits," 11 May 2018
Those dangers conspired to cause one of the worst bus tragedies in U.S. history when a drunk driver slammed into a bus carrying 67 members of the Radcliff First Assembly of God on their way home from an Ohio amusement park.

— justin price, The Courier-Journal, "Churches put faith in old vans that expose passengers to deadly risk," 10 May 2018
Tanner then allegedly conspired with Davenport to push Valeant business toward the mail-order pharmacy and cut out Philidor’s rivals.

— erik larson, Bloomberg.com, "Ex-Valeant Official's Trial Set to Revive Its Past Pain," 2 May 2018
The Palestinian arena is heating up Meanwhile, Karmon said, several factors are conspiring to make the Palestinian arena more explosive, including Hamas's weakness in the face of the Palestinian Authority and its growing regional isolation.

— yaakov lappin, Jewish Journal, "Middle East braces for a tense May," 1 May 2018
Passion and preservation conspire in Elizabeth Barlow Rogers’s Saving Central Park (Knopf).

— sloane crosley, Vanities, "What to Read in May," 30 Apr. 2018
Except for one generic line, Clara conspired with Twain's official biographer, Albert Bigelow Paine, to omit any mention of Isabel in her father's official biography, and all future publications associated with him.

— marie lavendier, courant.com, "The Lioness And The King: Was Mark Twain's Secretary A Treasure? Or 'A Salacious Slut'?," 29 Apr. 2018
Shi and Liu and the other four indicted in the case conspired to steal trade secrets from a global engineering firm that produces syntactic foam, according to the news release.

— jose r. gonzalez, Houston Chronicle, "Houston man indicted for 'vast criminal conspiracy' to aid China-owned companies," 27 Apr. 2018
But various injuries and the hot bat swung thus far by Aguilar had conspired to keep Braun in left up to this point.

— todd rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Brewers' Eric Thames will receive a second opinion on his injured left thumb," 26 Apr. 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.