Collusion Meaning
/kəˈluːʒən/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA private, cooperative agreement or arrangement between groups that otherwise maintain the pretense of competition, contention or non-cooperation.
nounA private agreement for a fraudulent or illegal purpose; conspiracy.
Sentence Examples
At this time, we should wipe out crime and collusion.
The sports world should, at this time, eliminate the collusion with criminal organizations.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The executives were arrested for ____ to fix prices and defraud customers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two rival companies acted in secret ____ to artificially fix product prices.
Word Origin & History
Dated from the 14th century C.E. as Middle English collusioun, collusion; from Old French collusion, from Latin collusio (“act of colluding”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Furthermore, there is good reason for firms to try to collude without express communication, and thus find themselves dealing with less than full mutual understanding."
— 2012, Joseph E. Harrington, A theory of tacit collusion:
"The dispatches […] also exposed the blatant discrepancy between the west's professed values and actual foreign policies. Having lectured the Arab world about democracy for years, its collusion in suppressing freedom was undeniable as protesters were met by weaponry and tear gas made in the west, employed by a military trained by westerners."
— 2013 June 7, Gary Younge, “Hypocrisy lies at heart of Manning prosecution”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 18:
"So why is Japan going ahead with the Olympics, against the public’s objections, while the pandemic is still a major public health concern? The answer is familiar: collusion among the elites."
— 2021 March 25, Koichi Nakano, “The Olympics Are On! But Why?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"Once derided as a nationalist conspiracy theory, collusion is by now an undeniable fact. The scale, however, remains unknown."
— 2023 August 30, Megan K. Stack, Rob Stothard, “He Was Shot 14 Times at the Dinner Table. His Children Want to Know if Britain Ordered the Hit.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The executives were arrested for ____ to fix prices and defraud customers.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The two rival companies acted in secret ____ to artificially fix product prices.