| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | collusion in plan |
| Synonyms: | cabal, complot, confederacy, connivance, countermine, counterplot, covin, disloyalty, fix, frame*, game, hookup, intrigue, league, little game, machination, perfidy, plot, practice, put-up job, scheme, sedition, treacherousness, treachery, treason, trick, trickery |
| Main Entry: | collusion |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | secret understanding, often with intent to defraud |
| Synonyms: | bait and switch, bill of goods, bunco, cahoots, complicity, con game, connivance, conspiracy, craft, deceit, diddling, dodge, double-cross, fast shuffle, flam, flimflam, fradulent artifice, graft, guilt, guiltiness, gyp, intrigue, plot, racket, scam, scheme, shell game, skunk, sting*, trick, whitewash |
| Notes: | cooperation is always positive, collaboration is positive except in wartime (working with the enemy), and collusion is always negative (working together in secret for a dishonest purpose) |
| Main Entry: | combination |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | alliance, association |
| Synonyms: | affiliation, bloc, cabal, cahoots, camarilla, cartel, circle, clique, club, coadunation, coalition, combine, compound, confederacy, confederation, conjunction, connection, consolidation, consortium, conspiracy, coterie, faction, federation, gang, guild, hookup, mafia, melding, mergence, merger, merging, partnership, party, pool, ring, set, syndicate, tie-up, trust, unification, union |
| Antonyms: | dissolution, disunion, separation, severance |
| Main Entry: | confederacy |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | coalition |
| Synonyms: | alliance, anschluss, bond, compact, confederation, conspiracy, covenant, federation, government, league, organization, union |
| Main Entry: | cooperation |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | mutual effort |
| Synonyms: | aid, alliance, assistance, cahoots, coaction, coadjuvancy, coalition, collaboration, combination, combined effort, communion, company, concert, concurrence, confederacy, confederation, confunction, conspiracy, doing business with, esprit de corps, federation, fusion, give-and-take, harmony, help, helpfulness, logrolling, participation, partisanship, partnership, playing ball, reciprocity, responsiveness, service, society, symbiosis, synergism, synergy, teaming, teamwork, unanimity, union, unity |
| Notes: | cooperation is always positive, collaboration is positive except in wartime (working with the enemy), and collusion is always negative (working together in secret for a dishonest purpose) |
| Antonyms: | blockage, delay, encumbrance, handicap, hindrance, obstruction, prevention, stoppage |
| Main Entry: | cover-up |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | attempt to conceal embarrassing or scandalous information |
| Synonyms: | burial, camouflage, closeting, complicity, concealment, conspiracy, disguising, dissimulation, evasion, front, hush-up, masking, placing under wraps, pretense, seal of secrecy, smoke-screen, veil of secrecy, whitewash |
| Main Entry: | design |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | intention |
| Synonyms: | action, aim, angle, animus, big picture, brainchild, child*, conation, conspiracy, deliberation, end, enterprise, game plan, gimmick, goal, intendment, intrigue, lay of the land, machination, meaning, notion, object, objective, picture, pitch, plan, play, plot, point, project, proposition, purport, purpose, recipe, reflection, scenario, scene, schema, scheme, setup, story, target, thinking, thought, trick, undertaking, view, volition, what's cooking, will |
| Main Entry: | faction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | group sharing a belief or cause |
| Synonyms: | band, bloc, bunch, cabal, camp, caucus, cell, circle, clan, clique, club, coalition, combination, combine, combo, concern, conclave, confederacy, conspiracy, contingent, coterie, crew, crowd, design, division, entente, gang, guild, insiders, intrigue, junta, knot, lobby, machine, minority, mob, network, offshoot, outfit, partnership, party, pressure group, ring, schism, sect, section, sector, set, side, splinter group, team, unit, wing |
| Notes: | a faction is a group of people forming a cohesive, usually contentious, minority from within a larger group; a fraction is a small part or item of something forming a piece of a whole |
| Antonyms: | entirety, total, whole |
| Main Entry: | intrigue |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | scheme |
| Synonyms: | artifice, cabal, chicanery, collusion, complication, conspiracy, contrivance, deal, design, dodge, double-dealing, fix, frame-up, fraud, game, graft, hookup, little game, machination, maneuver, manipulation, plan, plot, ruse, stratagem, trickery, wile |