Primary
''connivance'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260813235252-00-⌔
connivance - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
connivance (countable and uncountable, plural connivances)
- (law) The process of conniving or conspiring.
- ✤ The Abbot’s house, which formed the third side of the square, was, though injured, still inhabited, and afforded refuge to the few brethren who yet, rather by connivance than by actual authority, were permitted to remain at Kennaquhair.1
Etymology
From early 18th c., replaced earlier form connivence (late 16th c.), from Latin connīventia, from connīvēns (“winking”).
Pronunciation
- IPA: /kəˈnaɪvəns/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
Printed 2026-08-13.
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Link to original Footnotes
1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 271: ↩
Secondary
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