connive

Meanings

Verb

encourage or assent to illegally or criminally
form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner
To secretly cooperate with other people in order to commit a crime or other wrongdoing; to collude, to conspire.
Of parts of a plant: to be converging or in close contact; to be connivent.
Often followed by at: to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to escape blame; to ignore or overlook a fault deliberately.
To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink.

Origin / Etymology

From French conniver (“to ignore and thus become complicit in wrongdoing”), or directly from its etymon Latin con(n)īvēre (“close or screw up the eyes, blink, wink; overlook, turn a blind eye, connive”) (perhaps alluding to two persons involved in a scheme together winking to each other), from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) + *nīvēre (related to nictō (“to blink, wink”), from Proto-Indo-European *kneygʷʰ- (“to bend, droop”)).

Synonyms

dissimulate, intrigue, look the other way, scheme, shut one's eyes, turn a blind eye, wink

Scrabble Score: 12

connive is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
connive is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
connive is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 16

connive is a valid Words With Friends word