conspire

/kənˈspaɪər/

/kənˈspaɪə/

Other forms: conspired; conspiring; conspires

When you conspire, you collaborate with others to do harm, or maybe just keep something from happening, like a group that conspires to get tuna melts booted from the lunch menu by urging everyone to order other things.

You can conspire with someone, meaning you team up with another person to plot against someone else, or you can conspire against someone. This means you devise a scheme to do that person harm. Conspire also can be used in a more figurative sense to describe events that cause problems, like bad weather that may conspire against your picnic plans, or a series of injuries that conspire against a basketball team struggling to make the playoffs.

Definitions of conspire

1. verb

   act in unison or agreement and in secret towards a deceitful or illegal purpose
   “The two companies conspired to cause the value of the stock to fall”

   synonyms: collude

   type of:

   interact

   act together or towards others or with others
2. verb

   engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy, swear together
   “They conspired to overthrow the government”

   synonyms: cabal, complot, conjure, machinate

   types:

   coconspire

   conspire together

   type of:

   plot

   plan secretly, usually something illegal