to cooperate secretly; conspire (often followed by with):
They connived to take over the business.
2.
to avoid noticing something that one is expected to oppose or condemn; give aid to wrongdoing by forbearing to act or speak (usually followed by at):
The policeman connived at traffic violations.
3.
to be indulgent toward something others oppose or criticize (usually followed by at):
to connive at childlike exaggerations.
Origin
1595-1605; (< Frenchconniver) < Latinco(n)nīvēre to close the eyes in sleep, turn a blind eye, equivalent to con-con- + -nīvēre, akin to nictāre to blink (cf. nictitate)
Wally gave no evidence of thinking himself a rough intruder or a devious conniver after my happiness.
British Dictionary definitions for conniver
connive
/kəˈnaɪv/
verb (intransitive)
1.
to plot together, esp secretly; conspire
2.
(foll by at) (law) to give assent or encouragement (to the commission of a wrong)
Derived Forms
conniver, noun connivingly, adverb
Word Origin
C17: from French conniver, from Latin connīvēre to blink, hence, leave uncensured; -nīvēre related to nictāre to wink
Word Origin and History for conniver
connive
v.
c.1600, from Latin connivere, also conivere "to wink," hence, "to wink at (a crime), be secretly privy," from com- "together" (see com-) + base akin to nictare "to wink," from PIE root *kneigwh- (see nictitate). Related: Connived; conniving.
conniver in Technology
Artificial intelligence language for automatic theorem proving. An outgrowth of PLANNER, based on coroutines rather than backtracking. Allowed multiple database contexts with hypothetical assertions. ["The CONNIVER Reference Manual", D. McDermott & G.J. Sussman gjs@zurich.ai.mit.edu, AI Memo 259, MIT AI Lab, 1973]. (1995-01-10)