complicit
UK/kəmˈplɪs.ɪt/
complicit adjective: associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
Adjective
complicit (comparative more complicit, superlative most complicit)
- Associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
- It [slavery] has set the seal of a complicit, guilty silence upon the most orthodox pulpits and the saintliest tongues, […]1861, Henry M. Wheeler, The Slaves' Champion, page 203
- "I confess," and the Englishman turned with a near complicit grin to Hamo, "I have certain vulgar tastes myself."1973, Angus Wilson, As If by Magic, Secker and Warburg, page 177
- Synonyms:
- complicitous
complicit meaning in Urdu, Bengali and Arabic
complicit in Urdu
- شریک جرم
complicit in Bengali
- অপরাধে লিপ্ত, সহযোগী
complicit in Arabic
- associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature
- مُتَوَاطِئ mutawāṭiʔ, مُشَارِك mušārik
Examples of complicit in a sentence
- By taking this line are we as sports fans not also complicit in this sportswashing?
- Ideally, the subject will then internalize these demands, and then become complicit in the kafkatrapping of others.
- But because he was able to put it in my own words it sounded like I was complicit in the article.
Synonyms of complicit
Forms of complicit
| comparative | more complicit |
|---|---|
| superlative | most complicit |
Origin of complicit
Most likely a back-formation from complicity, under the influence of words such as explicit, as though the suffix -ity were composed of -it (from Latin -itus) and -y.
Words formed from complicit
Words that rhyme with complicit
Questions about complicit
- What does complicit mean?
- Complicit means associated with or participating in an activity, especially one of a questionable nature.
- What is complicit in Urdu?
- Complicit in Urdu is شریک جرم. See Complicit meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is complicit?
- Complicit is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce complicit?
- Complicit is pronounced /kəmˈplɪs.ɪt/ (UK).
Words near complicit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: complicit (page history and authors); complicit (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); complicit (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-complicit.ogg, en-au-complicit.ogg.
Cite this entry: “complicit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/complicit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.