Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One who participates in the commission of a crime without being the principal actor.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A partner or coöperator: not in a bad sense.
  • noun More commonly An associate in a crime; a partner or partaker in guilt.
  • noun Sometimes used with to before a thing.
  • noun Synonyms Abetter, accessory (see the definitions of these words), coadjutor, assistant, ally, confederate, associate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare A cooperator.
  • noun (Law) An associate in the commission of a crime; a participator in an offense, whether a principal or an accessory.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun rare A cooperator.
  • noun law An associate in the commission of a crime; a participator in an offense, whether a principal or an accessory.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan (especially an unethical or illegal plan)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of complice.]

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