Skip to content
Vinony

accomplice

noun

  1. person who actively participates in the commission of a crime, even if they take no part in the actual criminal offense, with the other perpetrators
L315982 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /əˈkɒm.plɪs/ / /əˈkʌm.plɪs/ / /əˈkɑm.pləs/

noun

Etymology: First attested in 1550. From a complice, from Middle English complice, from Old French complice (“confederate”), from Latin complicāre (“fold together”). The article a became part of the word, through the influence of the word accomplish.

  1. An associate in the commission of a crime; a participator in an offense, whether a principal or an accessory.

    “Childleſs Arturius, vaſtly rich before, / Thus by his Loſſes multiplies his Store: / Suſpected for Accomplice to the Fire, / That burnt his Palace but to build it higher.”

    “And thou, the curs’d Accomplice of her Treaſon, / Declare thy Meſſage, and expect thy Doom.”

  2. A cooperator.

    “Succeſſe vnto our valiant Generall, / And happineſſe to his accomplices.”