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

I’ll be back, you can be sure, At latest 2024, and I will thrive If I connive!

From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2021

"And do you, sir, too, indirectly connive?" said Mrs. Tartan to Pierre, when he had read it.

From Pierre; or The Ambiguities by Herman Melville

A woman connives to make her husband jealous when his secretive actions lead her to believe him unfaithful.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2020

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

“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

Corporal Phillips brought the menu with the air of one who connives at a felony.

From A Tall Ship On Other Naval Occasions by Bartimeus

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

Make no mistake: The newspaper industry connived in its own decline.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 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

Salieri is malicious and conniving, which Bettany disconcertingly says was very easy to embody.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 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

She had been despised as an underhanded and conniving witch since her days with Caesar.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby