People who secretly cooperate with others to do something dishonest or illegal, often by pretending to be unaware of what's happening.
From Old French 'conniver,' derived from Latin 'connivere' meaning 'to wink at' or 'close one's eyes to.' The Latin root combines 'con-' (together) and 'nivere' (to wink), originally referring to deliberately ignoring wrongdoing.
The word literally means 'to wink at'—imagine a judge winking at a criminal to let them know they can get away with it! This tiny gesture metaphor became the way we describe complicit people everywhere.
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