complicit
adjective
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Complicit and Its Accomplices
Complicit is a relatively recent addition to English vocabulary, arriving in the mid-1800s. It is a back-formation from complicity “association or participation in a wrongful act,” which came straight from a French word of the same meaning, complicité, in the 1600s. The oldest English word in this family is the now-obsolete complice (pronounced /COMP-liss/)—defined as “an associate or accomplice especially in crime”—which dates back to the 1400s, when it came from French. These words ultimately derive from the Latin verb meaning “to fold together,” complicare, formed by combining com- (meaning “with,” “together,” or “jointly”) and the verb plicare, meaning “to fold.”
This literal meaning evolved into a figurative one: the definition of complicit, “helping to commit a crime or do wrong,” describes individuals who are “folded together” metaphorically. Complicity and the its cousins accomplice, complicitous, and complice are all part of this gang.
Complicare, in a second of its Latin senses, “to twist together,” is the root of another English word, complicate, which originally meant “to unite intimately by intertwining.” In this case, the idea of things “twisted together” makes sense as an image of something composed of many elements, that is, something complicated. The -pli- of these words is from plicare (“to fold”), which is also the root of ply, the verb meaning “to twist together” or the noun meaning “one of several layers.”
Other words that derive from plicare are also illuminated by their etymologies: explicit “revealed without ambiguity” ultimately comes from Latin explicare, meaning “to unfold,” while implicit, meaning “implied,” descends from a Latin verb whose roots literally mean “to fold in.”
Examples of complicit in a Sentence
Jon Wilner, Mercury News, 24 Mar. 2025
And both Team Johnson and complicit aldermen should be ashamed this ham-handed gambit was kept under wraps when those affected could have had a say.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
—The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 18 Mar. 2025
Widely believed to be complicit in Burr’s alleged plotting, Wilkinson escaped prosecution by throwing Burr under the bus in a letter to then-President Thomas Jefferson.
—Anna Mulrine Grobe, The Christian Science Monitor, 18 Mar. 2025
Some information has also emerged in Syrian media and on their social networks as well as in a BBC article — triggering outrage among some Syrians, who have come to see the orphanages as complicit in the suffering wrought by the former Assad regime.
—Mirna Alrached, NPR, 16 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for complicit
Cite this Entry
“Complicit.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/complicit. Accessed 29 Mar. 2025.
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