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Glite Dictionary
complicitous

complicitous

1 9.6
Being involved with others in something illegal or wrong
  • adjective
  • /kəmˈplɪsɪtəs/
  • Formal
translation icon : cómplice
  • We were complicitous, as a country, in narcotics traffic at the same time as we're spending countless dollars in this country to try to get rid of this problem.

Examples

  • The lawyer was deemed complicitous for helping his client hide evidence in the case.

  • And they were being asked, they said to be complicitous now in the expansion of slavery.

  • Beyond their awareness, the children are made complicitous in his rebellion.

    Academic text (1997)

  • All are complicitous, and while it's easy to call Chigurh "the ultimate bad-ass," he exists because everyone has enabled him to exist.

    Blog text (20)

  • Ronnie felt complicitous with Cathy Bell, regardless of whether her claim was true or an invention.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Love makes even the pure of heart—or hard of same—complicitous.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The company was found complicitous in the illegal dumping of toxic waste.

  • By ignoring the mistreatment of employees, management became complicitous in the unethical practices.

Synonyms

complicit
vscomplicitous
  • Formal
47 8.3

Being involved with others in something illegal or wrong

is identical in meaning but differs in word form and ending
in cahoots
vscomplicitous
  • Informal
17 7.6

Secretly working together to do something dishonest

expresses involvement in wrongdoing but in a more informal or idiomatic way
collusive
vscomplicitous
1 8.6

Working secretly with others to cheat or break the law

involves participation in wrongdoing rather than stressing secret agreement

Antonyms

innocent
∞ 2.2

Not guilty of a crime or wrongdoing

How Involved

guilty
∞ 2.3
complicitous
  • Formal
1 9.6
involved
79 3.5
unwitting
17 6.7
innocent
∞ 2.2

Surface Forms

complicitous positive

Morphology

complicitous = complicit (transparent) = complicit + ous

Formed by adding the productive adjective-forming suffix '-ous' to the familiar adjective 'complicit', so the meaning is directly derivable.

Etymology

Complicitous comes from Latin parts com- 'with' and plicare 'to fold'. So it gives the image of people 'folded together' in a wrong act, which is why it means being involved with others in something morally or legally wrong.