Connive

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /kəˈnaɪv/

Definitions

1. To secretly work with others to carry out an immoral or illegal act ; to deliberately ignore or fail to report dishonest behavior
2. To collaborate in a covert manner to achieve wrongful goals ; to feign unawareness of improper actions
3. To conspire quietly to enable a bad deed ; to show a deliberate lack of knowledge about misconduct

Etymology: The verb "connive" began life as a description of an eye movement. Its Latin ancestor, "connivere," meant to close or screw up the eyes, to blink or wink, and by extension to overlook something on purpose. The image is thought to be of two people in a scheme winking at each other, though that picture is a guess about how the sense developed rather than something the record proves. The word reached English through French "conniver," which carried the sense of ignoring wrongdoing and so becoming complicit in it. Somewhere along that route the idea of turning a blind eye hardened into the modern meaning: to help wrongdoing in secret, often by quietly allowing it or lending a hand from behind the scenes. The shift from a physical gesture to a moral act is the whole story in miniature.

Synonyms: collude, conspire, plot, scheme, intrigue

Antonyms: oppose, disagree, resist, prevent, interfere