English

Noun

complicity ‎(plural complicities)

1. The state of being complicit; involvement as a partner or accomplice, especially in a crime or other wrongdoing.
   • 1854, Charles Dickens, Hard Times, ch. 32:

     He drew up a placard, offering Twenty Pounds reward for the apprehension of Stephen Blackpool, suspected of complicity in the robbery of Coketown Bank.

2. (archaic) Complexity.^[1]
   • 1861, Dr. Marx, "Musical Education and Instruction," The Musical Times, vol. 10, no. 220, p. 53:

     How easy is it, on the other hand, to an enlightened teacher, particularly in the beginning, to elucidate the various forms of rhythm by methodical arrangement in respect of simplicity and increasing complicity or mixture!

Synonyms

• (involvement as a partner or accomplice, especially in wrongdoing): collusion, complicitousness, connivance

Derived terms

• complicitous

Related terms

• accomplice

Translations

References

1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.