connive

Upon arrival, the men connive to set up shop at a rest house for travelers, despite having not made reservations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026

It stars Brian Cox as the Roy family patriarch and Jeremy Strong as one of his children, who connive to succeed their father as the company’s leader.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2023

Actually, she doesn't and she will manipulate, exploit and connive anyone without giving it a second thought if it serves her best interests.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2022

“The real function of the mirror was otherwise. It was to make the woman connive in treating herself as, first and foremost, a sight.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 8, 2021

Arthur ought to have blushed at this high praise, but instead, he stolidly explained his epigram, and observed further that no literary man who respected himself would connive in a boom.

From Masterman and Son by W. J. (William James) Dawson

It’s a con-artist film — poor family connives its way into jobs serving a younger, wealthy quartet — and the con rides an elevator from comically to tragically desperate.

From New York Times ● Jan. 3, 2020

Secretly, though, he dresses up as a friar and connives behind the scenes to thwart Angelo's decisions and to save Claudio.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2017

“The trade connives at its own irrelevance. This lifestyle stuff, the preponderance of comment over disclosure. If we aren’t telling people things that make them go, ‘Crikey’, what’s the point?”

From The Guardian ● Oct. 15, 2016

To wrap things up: House connives to get Park to disobey an order he knows is wrong so that she will learn to stand up for herself.

From Time ● Nov. 1, 2011

You are a hypocrite, who connives with Moritz.

From Old Fritz and the New Era by Peter Langley

Murdaugh’s lawyers contend that Hill connived to have a juror removed—the so-called Egg Lady—because Hill feared she wasn’t inclined to convict.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026

But the Manhattan district attorney’s office says the defendants connived to obscure the documents’ disputed ownership, despite knowing that Henley said the pages were stolen.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 19, 2024

The pangrams from yesterday’s Spelling Bee were conceived, convinced, connived, inconvenienced and invoiced.

From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2022

But for years she waylaid me on the street to complain and raised that incident at meetings to prove the editors connived with the paid Coop staff to prevent pro-democracy voices from being heard.

From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022

Bono had, I ascertained, connived to secrete them when we had removed to this house from the town; having no use for them upon his exile, he had left them for me.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Netflix has crafted a conniving production model that benefits the indiscriminate philistines in charge.

From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026

SantaCon’s conniving leader gives New Yorkers another reason to hate the yearly bar crawl.

From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2026

At a Saturday briefing for high ranking military officers first reported by the Journal, Gen. Zhang was accused of everything from conniving at corruption with family members to spilling nuclear secrets to the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026

The traitors were completed by chat show host Ross and singer Cat Burns - both of whom seem to have more of the conniving mindset needed for a great traitor.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025

Unlike Western cities, Tiwanaku had no markets—no bazaars full of shouting, bargaining, conniving entrepreneurs; no street displays of produce, pottery, and plonk; no jugglers and mimes trying to attract crowds; no pickpockets.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann