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
Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 6 Nov. 2025
Through Laura’s protective eyes, this striver who has gotten her claws into Daniel is conniving, hypersexual, possibly a thief, definitely a liar.
—Judy Berman, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
Somehow, the upper hand never lingers long with Sally and Barnaby, drolly played by Gunning and Corden as a conniving Tweedledee and Tweedledum, loyal to no one and convinced their venality is justified by their father’s history of terrible parenting.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
Each episode was guaranteed to feature a conniving scheme, a shocking betrayal, and some steamy-for-its-time smooching.
—Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Sep. 2025
This conniving force of darkness is pretty simple at a basic level.
—Vivian Tu, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2025
Feeling profoundly betrayed and abandoned by David, Rebecca’s loyalty lies with the vicious and conniving Juno, the only family she’s known for the last decade.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 13 Aug. 2025
Verb
She's been acting since 1999, and her role as the conniving queen of Manhattan, Blair Waldorf, in 2007's Gossip Girl was what truly put her on the map.
—Julia Moore, PEOPLE, 6 Nov. 2025
Through Laura’s protective eyes, this striver who has gotten her claws into Daniel is conniving, hypersexual, possibly a thief, definitely a liar.
—Judy Berman, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
Somehow, the upper hand never lingers long with Sally and Barnaby, drolly played by Gunning and Corden as a conniving Tweedledee and Tweedledum, loyal to no one and convinced their venality is justified by their father’s history of terrible parenting.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
Each episode was guaranteed to feature a conniving scheme, a shocking betrayal, and some steamy-for-its-time smooching.
—Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Sep. 2025
This conniving force of darkness is pretty simple at a basic level.
—Vivian Tu, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2025
Feeling profoundly betrayed and abandoned by David, Rebecca’s loyalty lies with the vicious and conniving Juno, the only family she’s known for the last decade.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for conniving
Noun
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Or secretly despise his own connivance?—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
18 Sep. 2025
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In addition, senior executives could be held personally liable when offences involve their consent, connivance or neglect.—
Jamie Hailstone,
Forbes.com,
29 May 2025
Verb
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James later shared the ad on social media with winking and tongue-sticking-out emojis; much of his audience, however, was not so amused, and one lifelong fan even sued.—
Robert Abitbol,
USA Today,
11 Oct. 2025
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In doing so, Piccioli subtly weaves in his own creative quirks, while winking (from behind dark glasses) at his predecessor — a way of not entirely unsettling the clientele won over during the previous decade.—
Joelle Diderich,
Footwear News,
8 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Meanwhile, the Israeli settler movement is openly plotting a long-term return to Gaza, seeking to reverse the evacuation of 8,000 settlers from the Strip that happened twenty years ago.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
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Curves plotting model performance against size have begun flattening out.—
James Somers,
New Yorker,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Meanwhile, Strzok and Page were assigned in 2017 to work on then-Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s team, tasked with investigating the Russia collusion narrative.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
8 Nov. 2025
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Kurchenko was also close to Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin-leaning Ukrainian president at the time, and was later accused by the succeeding Ukrainian government of systematically evading millions in taxes with the collusion of officials in Yanukovych’s administration.—
Olena Loginova,
Miami Herald,
7 Nov. 2025
Verb
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Wrapped in a blanked on the sofa, binging reruns of The Oprah Show on YouTube and gleefully ignoring emails all morning is my idea of heaven.—
Jackie Fields,
PEOPLE,
6 Nov. 2025
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On July 4, after Zane confessed to feeling guilty about ignoring more texts from his family members, the chatbot offered to help Zane craft a terse message to them.—
Allison Gordon,
CNN Money,
6 Nov. 2025
Verb
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As part of a Home Instead ad campaign, the actor reprised his role as the movie's scheming protagonist, now all grown up.—
Shania Russell,
Entertainment Weekly,
3 Nov. 2025
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No Warriors were involved, but Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups — as well as Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier — was arrested and charged with scheming to rig underground poker games.—
Evan Webeck,
Mercury News,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Allegations of state complicity were so severe that for years Modi was barred from entering the US.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
7 Nov. 2025
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Lowri Morgan, a working-class doctor, begins to question her complicity in this utopic world.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
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Their decision has highlighted deep divisions over legislative priorities and political strategy as lawmakers scramble to resolve the shutdown and address its nationwide consequences.—
Deputy News Editor,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 Nov. 2025
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What happened next, this time, was strange, and not uniformly validating for the Democrats’ strategy.—
Jon Allsop,
New Yorker,
11 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Conniving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conniving. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.
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