connive

Meaning

Verb

• To secretly cooperate with other people in order to commit a crime or other wrongdoing; to collude, to conspire.
• Of parts of a plant: to be converging or in close contact; to be connivent.
• Often followed by at: to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to escape blame; to ignore or overlook a fault deliberately.
• To open and close the eyes rapidly; to wink.

Origin

• From French conniver, or directly from its etymon Latin connīvēre, cōnīvēre, third-person plural perfect active indicative of connīveō, cōnīveō (perhaps alluding to two persons involved in a scheme together winking to each other), from con- + *nīvēre (related to nictō, from Proto-Indo-European *kneygʷʰ-).