What does connivency mean?
Connivency is a rare English noun denoting the act of conniving — that is, knowingly ignoring, tolerating, or secretly encouraging wrongdoing while maintaining a pretence of ignorance or innocence. It is essentially an older variant of the far more common word 'connivance', and both derive from the Latin verb connivere ('to close one's eyes', literally 'to wink'). In practice, connivency describes passive complicity: the official who looks away from bribery, the supervisor who pretends not to see rule-breaking. It implies deliberate blindness rather than open participation in the offence, which distinguishes it from outright collusion. The word appears chiefly in legal, historical, and formally styled writing, and most readers today will encounter it only in older texts. Because it is so uncommon, writers who want clarity should normally choose 'connivance'; nevertheless, connivency remains a legitimate, if shadowy, member of the English lexicon, useful precisely because its rarity lends a pointed, almost accusatory tone to any sentence in which it appears.
nounThe act or practice of conniving; deliberate tacit encouragement or pretended ignorance of wrongdoing by another. A rarer synonym of 'connivance'.
- Deliberate tacit encouragement or feigned ignorance of another's wrongdoing; the action of conniving.
- Cooperation toward a private end under an outward show of opposition (an older, broader sense).
"The auditor's connivency allowed the fraud to continue unnoticed for years."
"The smuggling operation could not have survived without the connivency of certain port officials."
"By their silent connivency, the committee permitted rules to be bent whenever convenient."
As an abstract noun of action, connivency is usually used in the singular; the plural is very rarely needed.
"The report catalogued a series of connivencies across several government departments."
'Connivency' is the forgotten twin of 'connivance' — same Latin root, same shady meaning, but so rare that even seasoned editors raise an eyebrow when they meet it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of connivency
Connivency derives from the verb 'connive', which comes from the Latin connivere, formed from com- ('together') plus nictare or nicare ('to wink' or 'to blink'), so the underlying image is literally 'shutting one's eyes together'. The word entered English in the early modern period alongside 'connivance' as a noun of action from the same verb. Its closest relatives are therefore connivance, connive, connivent, and the rarer 'nictitate'/'nictate', which preserve the literal winking sense in scientific usage. Over time 'connivance' displaced 'connivency' as the standard form.
Related word forms
How connivency is actually used
Rare and somewhat archaic; 'connivance' is strongly preferred in contemporary usage, so 'connivency' tends to appear in historical texts or deliberately formal prose. Like its commoner twin, it carries a negative connotation of guilty passivity rather than active wrongdoing.
Easily confused with connivency
'Connivance' is the standard modern spelling for this meaning, while 'connivency' is an older and much rarer variant carrying the same sense.
'Convenience' means suitability or ease, whereas 'connivency' means tacit tolerance of wrongdoing.