in cahoots
17
7.6
- idiom
- Informal
:
estar compinchado con
- Are you two guys in cahoots here, Sarge?
In this case, it's a complex system with a narcissistic parent who's in cahoots with the narcissistic adult child.
- In this case, it's a complex system with a narcissistic parent who's in cahoots with the narcissistic adult child.
- They took his computers because they thought that Rob had been in cahoots with him and they've been working together now on the computers that they took.
- So phase one of our whole drive, that whole, like, big area that we did, they're all in cahoots with these nutcrackers.
- So we don't have this like Cinderella is lying to the Prince the whole time they're in cahoots.
- And I think that was, I mean, that it certainly gave the impression that people were in cahoots.
- And if you think that's easy, you have another thought coming because you and your talent are in cahoots.
- And he said that those were the ones he felt were in cahoots with, with the pattern of Jeffrey Epstein.
Examples
-
I know you're in cahoots with these people.
-
You're in cahoots with D'Andre and Dom.
-
You are all in cahoots.
-
Are we in cahoots with the Dark Master here?
Fiction book (1999) -
In fact, the left are actually in cahoots with them.
Blog text (6) -
Authorities began to remove corrupt officials who were in cahoots with the brigands.
Academic text (2009) -
The 99% is protesting big government in cahoots with big business.
Blog text (24) -
They're in cahoots.
-
When she first married John, he had teased her, "You're all in cahoots!" He was kind but wary, too.
Fiction book (1996) -
He was accused of being in cahoots with the criminals who planned the heist.
Synonyms
130
5.8
To secretly plan with other people to do something illegal or harmful
44
8.3
To secretly work with others to trick or cheat someone
20
8.6
Secretly working with someone to do wrong or gain unfair advantage
19
8.8
Secretly allow or help someone to do something wrong
17
7.0
Working secretly with other people to do dishonest things
14
6.5
To make secret plans to do something dishonest
8
8.0
Someone who secretly plans to do something dishonest or harmful
2
7.0
Working very closely in a secret or dishonest way
1
7.9
To secretly plan dishonest actions against others
1
6.2
Having secret plans to get what you want in a dishonest way
To plan secretly with others to do something illegal
To meet secretly to plan something dishonest
To plot secretly to gain power, often in politics
Antonyms
How Secretive
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a simple composition of 'in' (a locative/prepositional marker) and 'cahoots' (meaning collusion or secret collaboration), so a learner who knows both constituents can derive 'secretly working together' directly. Although 'cahoots' is colloquial and often occurs only in this fixed phrase, the meaning follows transparently from the parts and parallels cross-linguistic expressions for being 'in collusion'.
Etymology
In cahoots may come from an old word cahoots meaning a small hut where people met in secret. So being in the same cahoots gives the image of people quietly working together, which is why it now means 'secretly working together', often to do something dishonest.