How to Use connive in a Sentence

connive

verb
  • Was there people conniving and being evil?
    — Eric Andersson, PEOPLE, 8 Oct. 2025
  • Jokic wasn’t the conniving villain implied by his pregame wardrobe.
    — Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 10 May 2025
  • The only thing slicker than those conniving aliens is Thompson’s glossy hair.
    — Jennifer Ford, Essence, 20 June 2019
  • In the movie, Bradley would play a con man who teams up with an even-more-conniving psychiatrist to run scams.
    — Kayleigh Roberts, Marie Claire, 15 June 2019
  • Charlie Cale is looking for a new home to sniff out the bulls--- of those conniving criminals.
    — Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Nov. 2025
  • But when Bran spoke, a look of shock and recognition came over the conniving Baelish’s face.
    — Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 29 Aug. 2017
  • This conniving force of darkness is pretty simple at a basic level.
    — Vivian Tu, CNBC, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Jackson is depicted as conniving and quick to use his wealth and fame to overwhelm the family.
    — Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 24 Apr. 2026
  • Accompanying them are a pair of bumbling, conniving peasants who may or may not be their friends.
    — Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 9 June 2025
  • Through his conniving, Heathcliff comes to own both properties.
    — Natasha O'Neill, Vanity Fair, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Now, there’s a new papa that don’t take no mess, the conniving Rev, who looks exactly like Pap.
    — David John Chávez, Mercury News, 4 Apr. 2025
  • Further, there was some of the cattiness and conniving that played out on screen happening offscreen.
    — Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Even their conniving delivery driver, Eve, can't figure out the recipe.
    — Kelsey Houston-Edwards, Scientific American, 1 Feb. 2024
  • Max and Leo connive to oversell a Broadway show to supporters, who won’t miss the money when the show fails.
    — Joanne Engelhardt, The Mercury News, 22 Mar. 2017
  • Each episode was guaranteed to feature a conniving scheme, a shocking betrayal, and some steamy-for-its-time smooching.
    — Jordan Hoffman, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Sep. 2025
  • As a conniving early-adopter, Clytemnestra had grim proof of concept that people will follow a red strip of textile.
    — Thomas Page, CNN, 25 May 2017
  • Scar gets a different vibe Scar has always been a tricky, conniving villain, prone to double-crossing friends and foes alike.
    — Raisa Bruner, Time, 17 July 2019
  • Three-time Oscar-winner Streep has done some of the best work of her career as a grieving, conniving mother.
    — Hal Boedeker, orlandosentinel.com, 19 July 2019
  • Among the hopefuls with their sights set on the property is the conniving Margo, who lives on the Morgans' block.
    — Jessica Wang, EW.com, 12 Dec. 2024
  • Trachtenberg aces Georgina as a conniving young woman who thrives off of drama and never lets anyone see her sweat.
    — Angela Andaloro, People.com, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Bureaucrats, MPs and the police connive in this system, says Mr Hasan.
    — The Economist, 31 Oct. 2019
  • The state connived to persuade these destitute young mothers to accept small workers’ compensation checks and give up their right to sue for damages.
    — Mark Oppenheimer, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2016
  • Megan Suri breathes fresh life into the conniving gold-digger trope, while Friend enjoys chewing the scenery as the grotesque Sergey.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 22 Jan. 2025
  • But here the girls had settled, teasing and conniving and gigglingover a children’s game — one in which solitude is all but impossible.
    — Anne Branigin, Washington Post, 10 Aug. 2023
  • Glenn Close plays the conniving mom who comes back into the siblings' lives and Brendan Fraser chews all the scenery as a corrupt cop.
    — Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2024
  • In this quirky adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl adventure, James is sent by his conniving aunts to chop down their old fruit tree.
    — Shirley MacFarland, cleveland.com, 11 Feb. 2018
  • Daemon is one of the most clever, cunning and conniving characters in House of the Dragon, who always seems to have the upper hand.
    — Skyler Trepel, Peoplemag, 28 July 2024
  • Daemon is one of the most clever, cunning and conniving characters in House of the Dragon, who always seems to have the upper hand.
    — Skyler Trepel, PEOPLE, 22 June 2026
  • Daemon is one of the most clever, cunning and conniving characters in House of the Dragon, who always seems to have the upper hand.
    — Skyler Trepel, PEOPLE, 19 Jan. 2026
  • The conniving French diplomat Talleyrand (Paul Rhys) is awful.
    — Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times, 22 Nov. 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'connive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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