26 January 2019
connive
[kuh-nahyv]
verb (used without object), connived, conniving.
1. to cooperate secretly; conspire (often followed by with):
They connived to take over the business.
2. to avoid noticing something that one is expected to oppose or condemn; give aid to wrongdoing by forbearing to act or speak (usually followed by at):
The policeman connived at traffic violations.
3. to be indulgent toward something others oppose or criticize (usually followed by at):
to connive at childlike exaggerations.
Origin of connive
French, Latin
1595-1605; (< French conniver) < Latin co(n)nīvēre to close the eyes in sleep, turn a blind eye, equivalent to con- con- + -nīvēre, akin to nictāre to blink (cf. nictitate )
Related forms
conniver, noun
connivingly, adverb
unconnived, adjective
unconniving, adjective
Can be confused
connive, conspire.
Synonyms
1. plan, plot, collude.
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for connive
Contemporary Examples
He defeated what was left of the Tatars, mostly by conniving with leaders of what was left of the Tatars.
Russian History Is on Our Side: Putin Will Surely Screw Himself
P. J. O’Rourke
May 11, 2014
Why, then, are we led to believe that her conniving ways are so ineffectual and misdirected?
The Abused Wives of Westeros: A Song of Feminism in ‘Game of Thrones’
Amy Zimmerman
April 30, 2014
Fondly nicknamed “the Worst Boy In Town,” Penrod is conniving but not clever, wicked but rarely cruel.
American Dreams, 1914: Penrod by Booth Tarkington
Nathaniel Rich
February 27, 2014
A sexy, sexual, conniving, social-media mentioning, sexy baby spider!
Frank Underwood Will Not Tolerate Insubordination in This Olive Garden
Kelly Williams Brown
February 24, 2014
Predictably, Harding was cast as a conniving, violent woman.
ESPN’s ‘The Price of Gold’ Revisits the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan Scandal
Amy Zimmerman
January 15, 2014
Historical Examples
We shall never cast out the devil while conniving at his crimes.
Broken Bread
Thomas Champness
He was accused of conniving at the attempt of the king and queen to escape.
Lafayette
Martha Foote Crow
It never struck him that he was conniving at fraud; if it had, he would not have been deterred.
The Mystery of Lincoln’s Inn
Robert Machray
She felt that she had been conniving in one of the spy-plots that all the Empire was talking about.
The Cup of Fury
Rupert Hughes
This seems strikingly true in our conniving at the faults of our children.
Coelebs In Search of a Wife
Hannah More
Today’s quote
Language is a virus from outer space.
– William S. Burroughs
On this day
26 January 1788 – Australia Day – Having landed in Sydney Cove a few days earlier, Captain Arthur Phillip plants the British flag and declares possession of the land in the name of King George III of Britain.
26 January 1808 – The Rum Rebellion: Twenty years after establishing the colony of New South Wales, the only successful military coup in Australia’s history results in the New South Wales Corps deposing the Governor of NSW, William Bligh. For the following two years, the colony was under military rule, until the arrival of new Governor, Major-General Lachlan Macquarie. At the time, it was referred to as the Great Rebellion. The rebellion was over a disagreement between the government and private entrepreneurs regarding the future of the colony. The government wanted to keep it as an open prison with a primitive economy. Years later, an English Quaker named William Howitt, a tee-totaller, looking to blame the ills of the world on alcohol, claimed the rebellion was about Bligh threatening the profits made from the Army’s trading of spirits. He coined the term ‘Rum Rebellion’.
26 January 1939 – During the Spanish Civil War, Nationalist forces loyal to General Francisco Franco enter Barcelona, overthrowing the Republican forces headquartered there.
26 January 1945 – Soviet troops liberate 7,000 survivors of the Auschwitz network of concentration camps in Poland.
26 January 1950 – India becomes a republic, freed from British rule. The new President, Dr Rajenda Prasad had campaigned with Mahatma Gandhi for Indian self-rule. Jawaharlal Nehru becomes the country’s first Prime Minister on 10 February 1952.
26 January 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
26 January 1988 – Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Phantom of the Opera’ opens on Broadway for its first performance. The musical becomes a world-wide smash and is the longest running show on Broadway.