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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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
Attorney General James faces mortgage fraud allegations that make the civil trial stones thrown at President Trump look conniving and hypocritical.
—
Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025
The characters are petty, duplicitous, conniving — and also, somehow, strangely sympathetic.
—Calum Marsh, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
Susan Flannery, who clocked in over 3,900 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful from 1987 to 2018, appeared on Dallas as the conniving Leslie Stewart in 11 episodes in 1981.
—Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Now, there’s a new papa that don’t take no mess, the conniving Rev, who looks exactly like Pap.
—David John Chávez, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for connive
Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025
The characters are petty, duplicitous, conniving — and also, somehow, strangely sympathetic.
—Calum Marsh, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
Susan Flannery, who clocked in over 3,900 episodes of The Bold and the Beautiful from 1987 to 2018, appeared on Dallas as the conniving Leslie Stewart in 11 episodes in 1981.
—Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
Now, there’s a new papa that don’t take no mess, the conniving Rev, who looks exactly like Pap.
—David John Chávez, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for connive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for connive
Verb
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Extract every valuable insight from feedback others would ignore.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
12 May 2025
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Petrova claims her requests to correct the statement were ignored.—
Hanna Park,
CNN Money,
12 May 2025
Verb
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Until his death in Pennsylvania last year, Gülen, a Turkish Muslim preacher who was accused of plotting a coup against President Recep Tayyip in 2016, was wanted as a terrorist leader in Turkey and Pakistan.—
Jasmin Malik Chua,
Sourcing Journal,
14 May 2025
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The Keeling Curve, a graph that plots concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere over time, uses measurements taken at Mau Loa Observatory, starting in 1958.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
13 May 2025
Verb
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This, coupled with the fact that the ringed planet will appear actually just a bit below Venus, may give the whole scene the feel more of a winking emoji, which is my personal favorite.—
Eric Mack,
Forbes.com,
24 Apr. 2025
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Like a Dickensian Andy Capp, Johnson is an uber-charming rogue, an everyman bluesy belter whose winking humor with a hint of the scoundrel are not entirely unlike Scott’s demeanor, though each man’s vocals, inflection and stage presence are/were clearly their own.—
Katherine Turman,
Los Angeles Times,
20 Apr. 2025
Verb
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See more Trump’s AI image of himself as the pope was condemned by leading Catholics, but the idea of a gaggle of secretive, red-robed men deliberating and scheming in an escape room is catnip for our imaginations.—
Raven Smith,
Vogue,
7 May 2025
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The levels of staff, the levels of seriousness, offensive coordinators are really scheming.—
Steven Johnson,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
5 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Connive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/connive. Accessed 24 May. 2025.
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