complicit
47
8.3
- adjective
- /kəmˈplɪsɪt/
- Formal
:
cómplice de
- Many activists believe that consumers are complicit in the environmental damage caused by large corporations.
- complicit in a crime
- become complicit
- make someone complicit
So I mean, they were complicit in the scandal.
- So I mean, they were complicit in the scandal.
- But by not thinking about, I am complicit in their continuation.
- Therefore, he's, he's complicit with deaths of, of Americans.
- Grief over being complicit in the harm that came to their siblings.
- A system of betrayal that made you believe that you were complicit in the whole thing.
- They're mega churches are complicit in all of this.
- It's much harder when it's the good people around them cooperating or being complicit in that situation.
- And so if you are quiet, you are complicit.
- For as long as we tolerate poverty and live in fear, Americans are complicit in the cycle of crime and punishment.
- I'm not saying I was complicit in that, but I did say what else can go wrong?
- So sometimes, and this is not at all to be very clear, to blame someone for being complicit in somebody else's betrayal.
- And all the people that worked in that jail were, you know, they had to have been complicit.
- That evil has been carefully orchestrated and the international community has been complicit in it.
- So I mean, you have people sort of objecting to being complicit in this kind of performance as well.
Examples
-
I fear you are as complicit as everyone else in the chain of transactions.
Academic text (2001) -
Married women are in some ways complicit in enabling men's extramarital sexual behavior.
Academic text (2010) -
I worry quite a lot about how complicit I am in that.
-
Everyone should know because we're all sort of complicit in it.
-
I want the location of the drive along with the names of those complicit with your efforts to sell it.
-
So I mean, they were complicit in the scandal.
-
I'm doing this because I think your client was complicit in a murder.
-
Thomas and David were complicit in this treachery.
-
Public school officials are sometimes duped by these organizations, but some are undoubtedly complicit in their actions.
Academic text (2010) -
For as long as we tolerate poverty and live in fear, Americans are complicit in the cycle of crime and punishment.
Synonyms
17
7.6
Secretly working together to do something dishonest
1
8.6
Working secretly with others to cheat or break the law
1
9.6
Being involved with others in something illegal or wrong
Antonyms
How Involved
Surface Forms
Morphology
complicit = complicity (semi-transparent) = com + plic
The adjective directly relates to the noun 'complicity' (being involved in wrongdoing), so learners who know 'complicity' can infer the meaning, but the internal Latin root 'plic' is not a standalone English word.
Etymology
Complicit comes from Latin parts com- 'with' and plicare 'to fold', so it originally meant 'folded together'. So, a helpful image is people 'joined' or folded together in an action, which is why being complicit means being involved with others, often in something wrong.