as in connivance
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1
as in winking
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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in plotting
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 conniving
Andrew Ridker,
Vulture,
10 Nov. 2025
Lillian Fishman,
New Yorker,
27 June 2026
Daemon is one of the most clever, cunning and conniving characters in House of the Dragon, who always seems to have the upper hand.
—
Skyler Trepel,
PEOPLE,
22 June 2026
Produced by Guy Ritchie, MobLand stars Hardy as Harry Da Souza, the loyal fixer for the Harrigan crime family, which is led by powerful patriarch Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and his conniving wife, Maeve (Mirren).
—
Derek Lawrence,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 June 2026
According to the footage, what awaits Rhaenyra during her reign are fearful subjects, conniving enemies, sleepless nights and plenty of anguish.
—
Tracy Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
Jackson is depicted as conniving and quick to use his wealth and fame to overwhelm the family.
—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
24 Apr. 2026
That twist makes Frank both sympathetic and conniving, and Bale does a good job letting both aspects of his complex performance come through.
—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
The alluring but conniving Ciara (Dove Cameron) or that sexy brooder with the best wild locks ever, Oliver (Avan Jogia)?
—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
5 Mar. 2026
Whitney, one of the most smarmy, conniving characters written into the entirety of the show, was one of Micay’s favorites to bring to life through the soundtrack.
—
Kiana Mickles,
Pitchfork,
2 Mar. 2026
Noun
The problem was Grossbart, whose conniving seemed to corroborate the worst stereotypes about the Jewish people — and so soon after the Shoah.
—
Andrew Ridker,
Vulture,
10 Nov. 2025
Verb
Their rivals were a candid, impudent pair, the schoolgirlish Shakira and a throaty American bottle-service girl named Toni, both incapable of conniving their way into romance, prone to heartbreak, and swiftly ostracized for their overt judgment of other islanders.
—
Lillian Fishman,
New Yorker,
27 June 2026
Daemon is one of the most clever, cunning and conniving characters in House of the Dragon, who always seems to have the upper hand.
—
Skyler Trepel,
PEOPLE,
22 June 2026
Produced by Guy Ritchie, MobLand stars Hardy as Harry Da Souza, the loyal fixer for the Harrigan crime family, which is led by powerful patriarch Conrad (Pierce Brosnan) and his conniving wife, Maeve (Mirren).
—
Derek Lawrence,
Entertainment Weekly,
11 June 2026
According to the footage, what awaits Rhaenyra during her reign are fearful subjects, conniving enemies, sleepless nights and plenty of anguish.
—
Tracy Brown,
Los Angeles Times,
29 May 2026
Jackson is depicted as conniving and quick to use his wealth and fame to overwhelm the family.
—
Cynthia Littleton,
Variety,
24 Apr. 2026
That twist makes Frank both sympathetic and conniving, and Bale does a good job letting both aspects of his complex performance come through.
—
Tim Grierson,
Vulture,
7 Mar. 2026
The alluring but conniving Ciara (Dove Cameron) or that sexy brooder with the best wild locks ever, Oliver (Avan Jogia)?
—
Randy Myers,
Mercury News,
5 Mar. 2026
Whitney, one of the most smarmy, conniving characters written into the entirety of the show, was one of Micay’s favorites to bring to life through the soundtrack.
—
Kiana Mickles,
Pitchfork,
2 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for conniving
Noun
-
Individuals and groups have often accused the U.S. government of denying their rights, and some of those accusations were irrefutable—as in the century between Appomattox and Selma, when the rights of Black Americans were denied throughout the South with the connivance of Washington.
-
But widespread disgust with the mayor’s mendacity and the connivance of eight City Council members is changing the political landscape.
Verb
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His drawling, winking charm is front and center, and his attraction to our heroine feels both genuine and even quite protective, but his violent streak is so blasé as to be unnerving.
-
Chapin, the mechanic on the Shawmut crew, was a wiry 6-footer with a winking sense of humor and a penchant for machine-shop patter peppered with gleeful profanity, a likable 26-year-old who’d been a reliable factory hand and test driver before the fire.
Verb
-
Sources tell OutKick that Pitaro backed Mark Jones in 2020 when Jones falsely accused police officers of plotting to shoot him.
-
Lively accused Baldoni in December 2024 of harassing her on the set of It Ends With Us and subsequently plotting a smear campaign against her.
Noun
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Special counsel Robert Mueller ended up charging 34 Russian nationals, but found no collusion between them and the president’s campaign staffers.
-
Players are expected to view these proposals as a legal form of collusion, reminiscent of the 1980s, signaling a potentially prolonged labor dispute.
Verb
-
Make Participation Effortless Reduce friction to the point where using it feels like less effort than ignoring it.
-
For example, today, Americans might believe that the demands of racial equity or of evangelical Christianity are so pressing that executive power would be justified in ignoring the legislature or the judiciary to serve them.
Verb
-
As to honest services wire fraud, it is based on Beasley allegedly scheming to defraud the Bucks and the NBA of his honest services.
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The likely architect of that plot was Lyonel’s own scheming son, Larys, whom Simon openly despised.
Noun
-
This kind of complicity is how cool is lost.
-
The information, which Daniel was hired to protect but now wants to disclose, is footage providing conclusive evidence of the arrival of aliens on Earth, in 1947, and of a seventy-nine-year coverup, with government complicity, by a company called WARDEX, headed by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth).
Noun
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Each issue is filled with breaking news, deep insights and exclusive strategies for becoming a better traveler.
-
Teams that are not ready solve yesterday's problems and call it strategy.
Cite this Entry
“Conniving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conniving. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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