# conspiracy

/kənˈspɪɹəsi/ (US) · /kənspˈɪɹəsi/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/conspiracy
Updated: 2026-06-19

## Senses

### 1. illegal secret plan

noun · CEFR B2

a secret plan made by a group of people to do something illegal or harmful.

For teachers: a secret agreement between two or more persons to perform an unlawful or harmful act; often used in legal contexts to describe the agreement itself as a crime.

- The police uncovered a conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from the national bank.
- The defendants were charged with criminal conspiracy after investigators found encrypted messages detailing their plan to sabotage the competitor's infrastructure.

Usage: Often used with the preposition 'to' followed by an infinitive verb, or 'against' followed by a person or entity.

### 2. conspiracy theory

noun · CEFR B2 · Informal

a belief that a secret, powerful group is responsible for an event.

For teachers: a hypothesis or belief alleging that a secret group is responsible for a specific event or situation; frequently used as a shorthand for 'conspiracy theory'.

- He spent all night reading a conspiracy about how the moon landing was fake.
- The rise of social media has accelerated the spread of various conspiracies regarding global health initiatives and government surveillance.

Teaching tip: While technically 'conspiracy' refers to the act, in modern informal English it is very common to use it to mean the 'theory' itself.

### 3. linguistic convergence

noun · CEFR C2 · Technical · Academic

when different rules in a language lead to the same result.

For teachers: a situation in which different phonological or grammatical rules within a language produce similar or related phonetic outcomes.

- The professor explained how a conspiracy of sound changes led to the loss of the final vowel.
- In generative phonology, a conspiracy occurs when several distinct rules appear to be motivated by a single surface-level constraint.

Usage: Used almost exclusively in academic papers or advanced linguistics lectures.

### 4. a group of animals

noun · CEFR C2 · Literary

the special name for a group of ravens or lemurs.

For teachers: a collective noun used specifically for a group of ravens or, less commonly, lemurs.

- A conspiracy of ravens gathered in the old oak tree as the sun set.
- The poet used the term 'a conspiracy of lemurs' to evoke a sense of mystery and secret communication among the forest creatures.

Teaching tip: This is a 'term of venery' and is very rare in everyday speech; it is mostly found in trivia or poetic writing.

## Examples

- The police uncovered a conspiracy to steal the bank's data.
- The three executives were arrested for their role in a conspiracy to fix prices across the industry.
- Historians continue to debate whether the assassination was the work of a lone gunman or the result of a wider political conspiracy involving high-ranking officials.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.