complicit

English

WOTD – 17 September 2008

Etymology

Back-formation from complicity, most likely, which from French complicité, from complice (“partner, accomplice”), from Latin complex, complicem (“partner”).

Pronunciation

(UK, US) IPA^(key): /kəmˈplɪs.ɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (AU) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪsɪt

Adjective

complicit (comparative more complicit, superlative most complicit)

Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
- 1861, Henry M. Wheeler, The Slaves' Champion, page 203:
  It [slavery] has set the seal of a complicit, guilty silence upon the most orthodox pulpits and the saintliest tongues, […]
- 1973, Angus Wilson, As If by Magic, Secker and Warburg, p. 177:
  "I confess," and the Englishman turned with a near complicit grin to Hamo, "I have certain vulgar tastes myself."
- 2005, Larry Dennsion, "Letters," Time, 7 March:
  Khan's sale of nuclear secrets and a complicit Pakistani government have made the world a ticking time bomb.

Synonyms

complicitous

Derived terms

complicitly

Related terms

complicity

Translations

associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature

Esperanto: kunkulpa, komplica
Finnish: osallinen (fi)
French: complice (fr)
Ido: komplica (io)

Novial: komplisi
Russian: замешанный (ru) (zamešannyj)
Spanish: cómplice (es)

References

“complicit” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.