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Glite Dictionary
to connive at

to connive at

9.5
To secretly allow something wrong to happen
  • phrasal verb
  • /kəˈnaɪv æt/
  • Formal
translation icon : hacer la vista gorda
  • He would be admitting he was wrong, that he did not discover all the facts of the case; or worse, that his assessment of them was incorrect and unwittingly connived at a terrible injustice.

Examples

  • It was clear that the manager connived at the unfair treatment of employees by turning a blind eye.

  • This is clearly organized crime that was intentionally connived at.

    Blog text (25)

  • To connive at his own wife's carryings on.

    Parnell (1937)

  • I don't want it known that I connived at such a silly thing, Knave.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • This restriction remained in force for decades, although some cities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, gradually relaxed their enforcement, finding ways to connive at the presence and practices of dissenters in a society where the Reformed remained a minority.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Blockbusting, whether overt or subtle, didn't work in Toronto as it did in Chicago and other American cities where real estate people connived at manipulations to drive out whites where they wanted to establish ghettos.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The corrupt officials connived at the illegal activities happening under their watch.

  • Many locals connive at the bribery happening in the construction industry.

Synonyms

to turn a blind eye
vsto connive at
41 5.4

Choose to ignore something wrong

is about giving silent approval rather than only ignoring the behaviour
to wink at
vsto connive at
1 7.5

To pretend not to see something bad to show approval

is mainly ignoring wrongdoing while actively allowing it by silent approval

Antonyms

to condemn
298 4.0

To strongly criticize someone or something publicly

to protest
283 3.2

To show strong disagreement in public, often by joining a march or strike

How Complicit

to conspire
130 5.8
to abet
50 8.1
to collude
44 8.3
to connive at
  • Formal
9.5
to condone
79 6.8

Surface Forms

connive at infinitive
connived at past
connived at past participle
conniving at present participle
connives at third person singular

Morphology

connive + at

The verb 'connive' (to act secretly in wrongdoing) combined with the preposition 'at' yields a target-oriented meaning ('at' marks what is being tolerated), so the overall sense of silently allowing or ignoring misconduct is related to the constituents. However, the nuance—shifting from active secret assistance to tacit approval/turning a blind eye—is a subtle change that may not be fully predictable to a B1 learner without prior exposure.

Etymology

Connive at may come from an old word that meant 'to close the eyes' or 'to wink'. If you connive and close your eyes at a wrong action, you quietly let it happen, so connive at means 'to secretly allow or ignore something wrong'.