as in connivance
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1
as in winking
to secretly sympathize with or pretend ignorance of something improper or unlawful
the principal connived at all the school absences that were recorded on the day of the city's celebration of its Super Bowl victory
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in plotting
to engage in a secret plan to accomplish evil or unlawful ends
suspects that his coworkers are conniving to get him fired
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Recent Examples of conniving
Andrew Ridker, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2025
James Grebey, Vulture, 30 Dec. 2025
Just like in the novel, the new adaptation features Dan Killian (Josh Brolin) as the show's conniving producer and Bobby Thompson (Colman Domingo) as the flashy host.
—Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 15 Nov. 2025
Charlie Cale is looking for a new home to sniff out the bulls--- of those conniving criminals.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Nov. 2025
Through Laura’s protective eyes, this striver who has gotten her claws into Daniel is conniving, hypersexual, possibly a thief, definitely a liar.
—Judy Berman, Time, 10 Sep. 2025
Somehow, the upper hand never lingers long with Sally and Barnaby, drolly played by Gunning and Corden as a conniving Tweedledee and Tweedledum, loyal to no one and convinced their venality is justified by their father’s history of terrible parenting.
—David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
This conniving force of darkness is pretty simple at a basic level.
—Vivian Tu, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2025
Feeling profoundly betrayed and abandoned by David, Rebecca’s loyalty lies with the vicious and conniving Juno, the only family she’s known for the last decade.
—Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 13 Aug. 2025
Noun
The problem was Grossbart, whose conniving seemed to corroborate the worst stereotypes about the Jewish people — and so soon after the Shoah.
—Verb
Tim Robbins stars as a simple, entry-level employee at a big New York corporation who is promoted to CEO by a conniving member of the board of directors (Paul Newman), as part of a strategic attempt to tank the stock price following the old CEO’s suicide.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for conniving
Noun
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But widespread disgust with the mayor’s mendacity and the connivance of eight City Council members is changing the political landscape.—
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With the connivance of Congress, President Trump has been stealing congressional power about taxing, spending and the use of military force to punish his enemies at universities, to extort foreign governments and to kill people on the high seas with impunity.—
Verb
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Maybe there’s some wink-winking, nudge-nudging going on, with one side or the other assuming an unspoken deal has been cut.—
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Either way, Sally and Craig both seem to confirm it, winking and nodding their way to acknowledging that something went down between them sometime in the recent past.—
Verb
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Pine works swiftly to gather information on Roper's deal and even forms an alliance with his boss's girlfriend Jed (Elizabeth Debicki) who is plotting her own escape.—
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But Izzy Johnston is plotting a way for her Warriors to rise above all those squads.—
Noun
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Among the issues raised in the petition are allegations of juror misconduct, collusion between victims' attorneys and the government, and violations of due process rights.—
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Once enacted, the legislation will require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress over the next five years a detailed assessment of the scale and nature of criminal collusion in Haiti.—
Verb
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Alyssa Farah Griffin attempted to cut in, with Navarro ignoring her in the moment.—
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James said the administration has not provided evidence of fraud or misuse of child care funding in New York, while ignoring the standard processes for withholding such funds.—
Verb
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Spagnuolo has also made a name for himself in the past by scheming up free rushers on blitzes, though those didn’t seem to hit nearly as often this year either.—
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But her scheming soon spirals out of control, leaving her to face the consequences of her actions.—
Noun
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By the mid-level bureaucrat who finally decides the cost of complicity is too high.—
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Veiel, conducting a forensic examination of Riefenstahl’s archives and other sources, picks apart the myth the filmmaker propagated after World War II that absolved herself of any complicity in Nazi atrocities.—
Noun
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Or Cenote, the Yucatan Peninsula hole with a massive ramp above the hole that takes different strategies depending on the pin location.—
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Bond said the Hoosier Lottery would adopt the strategies other states employ, such as cross-promoting digital and retail tickets.—
Cite this Entry
“Conniving.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/conniving. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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