Complicity

noun (uncountable)

/kəmˈplɪsɪti/

The state or condition of being involved with others in an illegal, unethical, or harmful act; partnership in wrongdoing, whether active or through deliberate inaction. Complicity is legally recognised under the Indian Penal Code (Section 107–117, abetment provisions) and is directly relevant to GS Paper IV case studies where a civil servant who knowingly acquiesces in a superior's corrupt order — rather than blowing the whistle — is held morally and legally complicit. The Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 extended liability to bribe-givers, codifying the principle that passive enablement constitutes complicity.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

A district magistrate who wilfully ignores documented evidence of land acquisition fraud in order to protect a politically connected developer does not merely fail in duty — he or she incurs moral and potentially legal complicity in the displacement of thousands of tribal families.

Synonyms

collusionabetmentconnivanceparticipationinvolvementculpability

Antonyms

innocencenon-involvementwhistleblowingoppositiondissent

🌱 Word Family

complicit (adj), accomplice (noun), implicate (verb), implication (noun), complicate (verb)

🔡 Root

Latin complex (genitive complicis) = partner in crime (com- = together; plicare = to fold, entangle); -ity = state/quality

📜 Etymology

From French complicité, from complice 'accomplice', from Latin complex (genitive complicis) 'partner, confederate in crime', literally 'folded together', from com- 'together' + plicare 'to fold'. The root plicare also gives 'complicate', 'explicit', 'implicate', and 'accomplice'. First attested in English in the mid-17th century.

🧠 Memory Hook

COMPLICITY = COM (together) + PLICARE (to fold) — two people 'folded together' in a scheme. Think of two hands clasped together in a secret handshake: that shared grip is complicity, the entanglement that makes both guilty.

🏛️ Governance 📖 Seen in: Good Governance — Metrics, Indices & G...

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