conspire

See also: conspiré

English

Etymology

From Middle English conspiren, from Old French conspirer, from Latin conspirare, conspīrō, from con- (combining form of cum (“with”)) + spīrō (“breathe”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈspaɪə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪə(ɹ)

Verb

conspire (third-person singular simple present conspires, present participle conspiring, simple past and past participle conspired)

1. (intransitive) To secretly plot or make plans together, often with the intention to bring bad or illegal results; to collude, to connive, to plot.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 37:18:

     They conspired against [Joseph] to slay him.

   • 2015, Mustafa Khattab, transl., The Clear Quran, →ISBN, surah 28, verse 20:

     And there came a man, rushing from the farthest end of the city. He said, “O Moses! The chiefs are actually conspiring against you to put you to death, so leave ˹the city˺. I really advise you ˹to do so˺.”

2. (intransitive) To agree, to concur to one end.
   • (Can we date this quote by Roscommon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     The press, the pulpit, and the stage / Conspire to censure and expose our age.

   • 1744, Georg Friedrich Händel, Hercules, act 3, scene 5:

     I feel my vanquish'd heart conspire
     To crown a flame by Heav'n approv'd.

3. (transitive) To work together to bring about.

   Rain and sweat conspired to smudge her mascara.

   • (Can we date this quote by Bishop Hall and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Angry clouds conspire your overthrow.

Synonyms

• (secretly plot): collogue

Derived terms

• coconspire
• conspiringly
• conspirophile
• nonconspiring
• unconspired
• unconspiring

 

Related terms

• co-conspirator
• conspiracy
• conspiration
• conspirator
• inspire
• spirit

Translations

to secretly plot

• Albanian: komplotoj (sq)
• Arabic: تَآمَرَ (taʔāmara), اِئْتَمَرَ (ar) (iʔtamara)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Asturian: maquilar, guarnir, urdir
• Bulgarian: заговорнича (bg) (zagovorniča)
• Catalan: conspirar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 勾结 (zh) (gōujié)

• Danish: sammensværge sig
• Dutch: samenzweren (nl)
• Esperanto: konspiri, komploti
• Finnish: juonitella (fi)
• Galician: urdir (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: sich verschwören (de)
• Greek: συνωμοτώ (el) (synomotó)
• Hungarian: összeesküszik (hu), konspirál (hu)
• Indonesian: berkomplot (id), bersekongkol (id)
• Japanese: 企む (ja) (takuramu)
• Kashubian: kònspirowac
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: coniūrō
• Malayalam: ഗൂഢാലോചന നടത്തുക (gūḍhālōcana naṭattuka)
• Maori: whakatakoto kara, kakai
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: conspirar
• Polish: spiskować (pl) impf, konspirować (pl) impf, kombinować (pl) impf, knuć (pl) impf, uknuć (pl) pf
• Portuguese: conspirar (pt)
• Russian: замышля́ть (ru) impf (zamyšljátʹ), сгова́риваться (ru) impf (sgovárivatʹsja), сговори́ться (ru) pf (sgovorítʹsja)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Ukrainian: змовля́тися impf (zmovljátysja), змо́витися pf (zmóvytysja)
• Vietnamese: âm mưu (vi), mưu hại (vi)
• Welsh: cynllwynio (cy)

to try to make things go a certain way

• Vietnamese: chung sức, hiệp lực (vi)

Anagrams

• incorpse, scorpine

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: conspirent, conspires

Verb

conspire

1. inflection of conspirer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Portuguese

Verb

conspire

1. inflection of conspirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [konˈspire]

Verb

conspire

1. third-person singular/plural present subjunctive of conspira

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /konsˈpiɾe/ [kõnsˈpi.ɾe]
• Rhymes: -iɾe
• Syllabification: cons‧pi‧re

Verb

conspire

1. inflection of conspirar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative