Meanings
plural complices
- obsoleteAn accomplice; a supporter.
Our Saviour was accused that he would Destroy the Temple. The first Martyr Steven was stoned as a Complice.
1676, Andreas Rivetus, Junior [pseudonym; Andrew Marvell], Mr. Smirke. Or, The Divine in Mode. […], [London]: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 113 more examples
The lives of all your loving complices / Lean on your health; the which, if you give o’er / To stormy passion, must perforce decay.
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]VVell, the VVeſt-Saxon King vvas quickly overcome, and all his Complices either killed, or conquered, and yet King Edvvine demurred to embrace Chriſtianity.
1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, book II, subsection 40 (His Condition Performed, and yet He Demurres), page 72[A] bill confirming the attainder of Somerset and his complices was also rejected by the commons, tho’ it had passed the upper house.
1762, David Hume, “[Richard I.] Chapter II.”, in The History of England, from the Invasion of Julius Cæsar to the Accession of Henry VII, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 340
Origin
From Old French.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
complice. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complice
“complice.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complice. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “complice,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/complice.
Source: complice on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.