conspiracy
UK/kənˈspɪɹəsi/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
New Zealand/kənˈspəɹəsi/
conspiracy noun: an agreement or arrangement between multiple parties to do something harmful, immoral or subversive; an instance of collusion.
Noun
conspiracy (countable and uncountable, plural conspiracies)
- An agreement or arrangement between multiple parties to do something harmful, immoral or subversive; an instance of collusion.
- Conspiracies, like all other exercises of human ingenuity, are of very different kinds. The gloomy plots arranged in old Italian halls...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 23
- And you may have noticed that those who are too quick to shout 'conspiracy theorist' are equally swift, when consequences for authority and consensus impend, to look serious and say 'It's more complicated than that.' These have become standard damage-control reflexes.1993, Christopher Hitchens, For the Sake of Argument
- An agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future.
- A secret agreement to do something.
- The former programme of the entertainments, which were to result from this generous conspiracy to assist a man whom fortune had buffeted, was eagerly looked for, not only for the reunion of old favorites that it promised to bring about, but out of sympathy for the sentiment which has prompted this...1863 May 30, “Lord Dudley and Mr. Lumley”, in The Musical World, volume 41, number 22, page 339
- On another occasion, some months later, when Currita's birthday, the 10th of October, and feast of St. Francis Borgia, was approaching, the two children were plotting together a conspiracy to give their mother a surprise.1900, Luis Coloma, Currita, Countess of Albornoz, page 245
- An agreement to work together to bring something about; an act or instance of conspiring.
- But this I call civil life […] living [together] in good and politic order, one ever ready to do good to another, and as it were conspiring [together] in all virtue and honesty. […] You said right now that this civil life was a politic order and, as it were, a conspiracy in honesty and virtue, […]1948 [c. 1530], Thomas Starkey, A Dialogue Between Reginald Pole & Thomas Lupset
- You may even find yourself using your new awareness and insight to assist others in their recovery process. A conspiracy to enable others joins the minds of all who seek faces of recovery.2007, Barbara Sinor, Gifts from the Child Within, page 188
- A conspiracy theory; a hypothesis alleging conspiracy.
- Rather than propagating conspiracies about the evils of wealthy Jewry, they beat up poor Roma in back alleys.2008, Edward Snajdr, Nature Protests: The End of Ecology in Slovakia, University of Washington Press, →ISBN, page 176
- The internet helps spread conspiracies, but it can also be used to verify claims made by politicians and the media.2018, Rita Santos, The Deep State, Greenhaven Publishing, →ISBN, page 99
- A group of various animals.
- She was wary, jumping at imagined shadows and at the prowlings of a conspiracy of cats lurking in an alley1982, Fern Michaels, Panda Bear Is Critical, Macmillan, page 17
- A flock of crows or ravens.
- Over-the-top tales flew around like a conspiracy of crows.2023, Jann Arden, The Bittlemores: A Novel, Random House of Canada
- Special thanks to the conspiracy of corvids who graciously visit me on occasion , accepting my offering of breadcrumbs and allowing me to quietly study their movements and sounds so I could accurately represent their much larger siblings in the messenger-ravens' eyrie2026, Shana Targosz, Relic of Thieves, page 450
- A group of lemurs.
- Indeed, as I sat, forlorn, never having found my particular conspiracy of lemurs (how about that for a name for a group of lemurs? The name lemur itself comes from the Latin for “spirits of the dead”) …2018 February 8, Jeffrey T. Laitman, “The Search for the Intersection of Form and Function: Looking for Clues into What Has Determined How, Why, and When Animals Came to Move the Way They Do”, in The...
- The Oregon Zoo welcomed two red-ruffed lemurs this week, bringing the total number in the conspiracy — the name for a group of lemurs — to seven.2018 November 9, “Red alert: New lemurs join zoo conspiracy”, in Oregon Zoo, archived from the original on 31 Aug 2025, retrieved 05 Nov 2019
- A situation in which different phonological or grammatical rules lead to similar or related outcomes.
- That is, further exploration of phonological systems of various languages may turn up evidence motivating conspiracies that have been regarded thus far as impossible.[…]This study of labial palatalization conspiracy is a contribution to the 'too many solutions'/'too few data' problem.2014, Jerzy Rubach, “Soft labial conspiracy in Kurpian”, in Journal of Linguistics, volume 50, number 1
Verb
conspiracy (third-person singular simple present conspiracies, present participle conspiracying, simple past and past participle conspiracied)
- To conspire.
- He knew I would come for him when I discovered what he did, so he, he conspiracied to put me in prison.2007, Brian Francis Slattery, Spaceman Blues: A Love Song, page 45
- “What are you two conspiracying about up here?” asked Kira, walking up next to me.2019, Vincent Trigili, Rise of the Goblin King
conspiracy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
conspiracy in Hindi
- an agreement to break the law
- षड्यंत्र ṣaḍyantra, साज़िश sāziś
- act of working in secret to obtain some goal
- षड्यंत्र ṣaḍyantra, साज़िश sāziś
conspiracy in Tamil
- act of working in secret to obtain some goal
- சதி cati
conspiracy in Marathi
- an agreement to break the law
- द्रोह droh
- act of working in secret to obtain some goal
- कट kaṭ, कारस्थान kārasthān, षडयंत्र ṣaḍyantra
conspiracy in Urdu
- conspiracy, scheme, plot
- سازش sāziś
- conspiracy
- بندش bandiś
More languagesFewer languages
- conspiracy in Bengali
- ষড়যন্ত্র śoṛojontro
- conspiracy in Telugu
- కుట్ర kuṭra
- conspiracy in Malayalam
- ഗൂഢാലോചന gūḍhālōcana
- conspiracy in Kannada
- ಷಡ್ಯಂತ್ರ ṣaḍyantra, ಪಿತೂರಿ pitūri
- conspiracy in Punjabi
- ਕਾਰਸਤਾਨੀ kārsatānī
- conspiracy in Gujarati
- કાવતરું, ષડયંત્ર
- conspiracy in Odia
- ଷଡ଼ଯନ୍ତ୍ର, ଷଡଯନ୍ତ୍ର
- conspiracy in Sanskrit
- षड्यन्त्र ṣaḍyantra, समिति sámiti
- conspiracy in Nepali
- षड्यन्त्र ṣaḍyantra
- conspiracy in Tagalog
- sabwatan
- conspiracy in Arabic
- دَسِيسَة dasīsa, مُؤَامِرَة muʔāmira, مُوَاطَأَة muwāṭaʔa
- conspiracy in Malay
- konspirasi
- conspiracy in Indonesian
- permufakatan jahat, persekongkolan, konspirasi, komplot
- conspiracy in Persian
- دسیسه dasise, دسیسهچینی, توطئه towte'e
- conspiracy in Vietnamese
- cuộc âm mưu, cuộc mưu hại
Examples of conspiracy in a sentence
- Sokka, Long Feng is in control of the city; his conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful.2006 November 17, John O'Bryan, “The Earth King” (2:10 from the start), in Ethan Spaulding, director, Avatar: The Last Airbender, season 2...
- The people whom he visited were members of the surprise party conspiracy, and kept the pianist involved in a heated discussion until they were sure that the surprise was ready for him.1916 August 10, “Ernest schelling Given A Surprise Party”, in Musical Courier and Review of Recorded Music, volume 73, page 27:
- When Mike and his family showed up at nearly the same time, Dan suspected a conspiracy among his mother, brother and sister.2002, Duane Ramsey, Reunion in the Rockies, page 264:
- Have you been part of a surprise party conspiracy or plotted a delightful treat for someone you love?2003, Penelope S. Tzougros, Wealthy Choices: The Seven Competencies of Financial Success, page 234:
Synonyms of conspiracy
Forms of conspiracy
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | conspiracies |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | conspiracies |
| present participle | conspiracying |
| past participle | conspiracied |
| past | conspiracied |
Origin of conspiracy
From Middle English conspiracie, from Anglo-Norman conspiracie, from Latin cōnspīrātiō, from conspire + -acy.
Words formed from conspiracy
Phrases with conspiracy
Questions about conspiracy
- What does conspiracy mean?
- Conspiracy means an agreement or arrangement between multiple parties to do something harmful, immoral or subversive; an instance of collusion.
- What is conspiracy in Hindi?
- Conspiracy in Hindi is षड्यंत्र (ṣaḍyantra), साज़िश (sāziś). See Conspiracy meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use conspiracy in a sentence?
- Sokka, Long Feng is in control of the city; his conspiracy with the Dai Li is too powerful.
- What part of speech is conspiracy?
- Conspiracy can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce conspiracy?
- Conspiracy is pronounced /kənˈspɪɹəsi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of conspiracy?
- The plural of conspiracy is conspiracies.
Words near conspiracy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: conspiracy (page history and authors); بندش (Urdu) (page history and authors); ষড়যন্ত্র (Bengali) (page history and authors); ਕਾਰਸਤਾਨੀ (Punjabi) (page history and authors); conspiracy (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); conspiracy (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); षड्यन्त्र (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); षड्यन्त्र (Nepali) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-conspiracy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “conspiracy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/conspiracy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.