1. secretly allow (something considered immoral, illegal, wrong, or harmful) to occur: "you have it in your power to connive at my escape"Similardeliberately ignoreoverlooknot take into considerationdisregardpass overgloss overtake no notice oftake no account ofmake allowances forturn a blind eye toclose/shut one's eyes towink atblink atexcusepardonforgivecondonelet someone off withlet golet passlook the other wayinformal:let something rideOppositecondemnpunish
▪ conspire to do something considered immoral, illegal, or harmful:"they connived with bank officials to launder money"Similarconspirecolludebe in collusioncollaborateintriguebe hand in gloveplotparticipate in a conspiracyschemeinformal:be in cahootsrare:machinatecabalcomplot
Word Originearly 17th century: from French conniver or Latin connivere ‘shut the eyes (to)’, from con- ‘together’ + an unrecorded word related to nictare ‘to wink’.
