conspire

verb

con·spire | \ kən-ˈspī(-ə)r

conspired; conspiring

Definition of conspire

: plot, contrive

1a : 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 on the Web

Huffman was among 15 parents who didn’t fight the government’s case, pleading guilty in May. A dozen parents who have admitted to conspiring with Singer are slated to be sentenced over the coming months, many of them by Talwani. — Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, "Felicity Huffman gets 14 days in prison in college admissions scandal," 13 Sep. 2019 Ultimately, the investigation did not establish that the [Trump] Campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities. — Deroy Murdock, National Review, "What Makes Joe Run?," 6 Sep. 2019 The firm also represents Homayoun Zadeh, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Singer to win his daughter’s admission to USC. — Bloomberg News, BostonGlobe.com, "Coach in college scam ran a side hustle taking bribes on his own, prosecutors say," 5 Sep. 2019 Collaery, who had been K’s lawyer, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with the former spy to reveal secrets. — Washington Post, "Australian spy charged with bugging leak denied legal aid," 30 Aug. 2019 In fact, the report concludes no one in the president's campaign colluded, collaborated or conspired with the Russians. — NBC News, "Full transcript: Mueller testimony before House Judiciary, Intelligence committees," 25 July 2019 In May, Pras Michel, a founder of the Fugees, pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Low to divert nearly $1 million in 1MDB funds to Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign without disclosing their source. — Shashank Bengali, latimes.com, "The global financial scandal that has spread from Malaysia to Hollywood," 10 July 2019 His nephew, Marlon Marín, was arrested last year along with Seuxis Hernández (aka Jesús Santrich), a FARC commander who is accused of conspiring to ship 10,000kg (22,000lb) of cocaine to the United States after the signing of the peace deal. — The Economist, "Will Colombia return to war?," 5 Sep. 2019 BeckZack’s principal owner was Morris Levy, who was convicted in May 1988 of conspiring to extort payments from a record wholesaler. — Steve Helling, PEOPLE.com, "30 Years After the Menendez Brothers Murders, Read PEOPLE's 1990 Cover Story," 20 Aug. 2019

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.