conspiracy

Pluralconspiracies

Formsconspiracies, conspiracying, conspiracied

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An agreement among several parties to do something harmful, immoral, or subversive; an instance of collusion.

   Investigators exposed a conspiracy among executives to defraud shareholders.

   What began as idle grumbling hardened into a genuine conspiracy against the manager.

   Similarplot, scheme, intrigue, collusion, cabal

   Note

   The core sense, which the other senses narrow or loosen. It came through Middle English and Anglo-Norman conspiracie from Latin cōnspīrātiō, built on conspire with the suffix -acy. It works as a count noun for a single plot, as in John Gray's "vast conspiracies" of the Jacobins and Bolsheviks, and as a mass noun for the practice itself. Harm or subversion is part of the meaning here, which separates it from the benign "working together" use.

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In law, an agreement by two or more people to commit an illegal act in the future.

   Prosecutors must prove an agreement existed to secure a conspiracy conviction.

   She faced a conspiracy charge for arranging the theft months in advance.

   Note

   The legal sense is narrower and stricter. The offense lies in the agreement itself, so a conspiracy charge can stand even if the planned crime never happens. That is why prosecutors put their effort into proving that the agreement existed. The word pairs naturally with charge and conviction. It always needs at least two parties, because one person alone cannot conspire.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A secret agreement among people to do something.

   The neighbors entered into a secret conspiracy to surprise the retiring teacher.

   A friendly conspiracy among coworkers kept the engagement under wraps for weeks.

   Similarplot, scheme

   Note

   Loosened from wrongdoing, the word keeps only the secrecy, and it often turns playful. In Luis Coloma's Currita (1900), two children plot "a conspiracy" to surprise their mother on her birthday. The Musical World of 1863 praises a "generous conspiracy" to help a man whom fortune had buffeted. A warm adjective such as generous or friendly, or a cheerful goal, tells the reader the secret is a kind one.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   An agreement to work together to bring something about; the act of conspiring.

   The festival came together through a cheerful conspiracy of volunteers and donors.

   Their conspiracy to revive the old theater eventually transformed the whole neighborhood.

   Similarcollaboration, cooperation

   Note

   Here even the secrecy falls away, leaving only shared purpose. Writers on education and teamwork choose the word against its darker grain, as in Hugh B. Price's "potent, positive conspiracy" of educators and Leigh Thompson's Creative Conspiracy (2013). The effect depends on the reader still hearing an echo of the harmful plot. A positive adjective usually signals the shift.

5. 5
   nounnonstandardcountable

   A hypothesis that explains some event as the work of a secret, coordinated plot, used as a shortening of conspiracy theory.

   The forum is full of conspiracies claiming the agency faked the data.

   She debunked yet another conspiracy about vaccines in her weekly column.

   Note

   A clipping of conspiracy theory that many careful writers reject. The objection is that it blurs a claim about a plot with the plot itself. In phrases like spread conspiracies or propagate conspiracies, the context shows that rumors are meant, not real schemes. Where the difference matters, write conspiracy theory in full. Otherwise a reader may take you to be saying that the plot is real.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A case in which several distinct phonological or grammatical rules independently produce similar or related results.

   Phonologists identified a conspiracy among the rules that all preserve syllable weight.

   The analysis revealed a conspiracy whereby several processes yield identical surface forms.

   Note

   A phonologist's metaphor: several rules that look formally unrelated all seem to work toward one target, as if they had agreed on it. The interest lies in the shared outcome, not in any single rule. A conspiracy is usually named for what the rules achieve, as in Jerzy Rubach's "Soft labial conspiracy in Kurpian" (2014). It is a count noun, so analysts speak of conspiracies being motivated or ruled out.

7. 7
   verbnonstandardintransitive

   To act in concert secretly; to conspire.

   “What are you two conspiracying about up here?” asked Kira, walking up next to me.

   2019, Vincent Trigili, Rise of the Goblin King

   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

   Similarconspire, plot, scheme, collude

   Note

   A rare verb made straight from the noun, inflected conspiracies, conspiracying, conspiracied. It turns up in fiction that voices hesitant or casual speech, such as "he, he conspiracied to put me in prison" in Brian Francis Slattery's Spaceman Blues (2007). It is widely treated as an error. In your own writing, use conspire, which does the same job without drawing objection.

Showing meanings only. Show all 9