1
as in to ignore
to secretly sympathize with or pretend ignorance of something improper or unlawful
the principal connived at all the school absences that were recorded on the day of the city's celebration of its Super Bowl victory
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to plot
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends
suspects that his coworkers are conniving to get him fired
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Recent Examples of connive
The Nope actress stars as Zoe, a conniving thief who plots to steal an armored truck, in the heist-comedy The Pickup.
—
Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 6 Aug. 2025
Anderson also played the conniving Teri Carson on Melrose Place in 1996 and Tori Spelling‘s materialistic mother in So Notorious in 2006, and her résumé included work on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clueless, The Mullets, My Sister Is So Gay and A Night at the Roxbury (1998).
—Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 3 Aug. 2025
That said, as great as Olivia Colman is in The Favourite, technically speaking Emma Stone’s character, the conniving Abigail, is the real main character, driving the action forward and worming her way into the Queen’s heart (and bed).
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 23 July 2025
Brown also gave a shoutout to Julianne Nicholson, who was recently Emmy nominated for her role as the conniving billionaire Sinatra.
—Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for connive
Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 6 Aug. 2025
Anderson also played the conniving Teri Carson on Melrose Place in 1996 and Tori Spelling‘s materialistic mother in So Notorious in 2006, and her résumé included work on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Clueless, The Mullets, My Sister Is So Gay and A Night at the Roxbury (1998).
—Mike Barnes, HollywoodReporter, 3 Aug. 2025
That said, as great as Olivia Colman is in The Favourite, technically speaking Emma Stone’s character, the conniving Abigail, is the real main character, driving the action forward and worming her way into the Queen’s heart (and bed).
—Tim Grierson, Vulture, 23 July 2025
Brown also gave a shoutout to Julianne Nicholson, who was recently Emmy nominated for her role as the conniving billionaire Sinatra.
—Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 22 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for connive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for connive
Verb
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Still, sometimes the heat is impossible to ignore — evident in the small sweat stains on Dinkel’s blue collared shirt.—
Ashley Miznazi,
Miami Herald,
5 Sep. 2025
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Carrie Severino, president of the conservative advocacy group Judicial Crisis Network, previously told the Washington Examiner that the justices have made recent orders more explicit and clear as lower court judges have ignored the Supreme Court’s previous orders on its emergency docket.—
Jack Birle,
The Washington Examiner,
4 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Its director, and franchise mastermind, Rian Johnson has proven himself a master of the whodunnit form with these films, showing a knack for Agatha Christie puzzle-plotting that, well, the actual adapters of Christie haven’t shown in recent years.—
Christian Blauvelt,
IndieWire,
8 Sep. 2025
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Unlike navigating on a flat map using Euclidean geometry, aeronautical navigation requires solving complex problems by calculating position and plotting courses on a model of the Earth as an ellipsoid, or a sphere.—
Natasha Gural,
Forbes.com,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Scruffy City is a moniker the place holds with equal parts pride and winking good humor.—
Caroline Rogers,
Southern Living,
31 Aug. 2025
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The last ember of Rope A winked out.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
28 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Jones’ limitations aren’t going away, but his can be schemed around, which was less the case with Richardson.—
Mike Sando,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025
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Watch Saturday Night on Netflix Set It Up Two assistants scheme to set up their respective demanding bosses to get them off their backs.—
James Mercadante,
PEOPLE,
4 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Connive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/connive. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.
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