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collusion

kuh-LOO-zhuhn /kəˈluː.ʒən/

nounC1GREGMATCAT

legalformal

Secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.

Collusion often occurs between entities that are supposed to be competitors, such as companies fixing prices.

The story behind the word. From the Latin 'colludere', meaning 'to play together'. It suggests that the parties are not actually competing but are 'playing a game' where the outcome is already decided.

Word relationships

conspiracy: Conspiracy is a broader term for any secret plan to do something wrong; collusion specifically implies cooperation to deceive.

competition: The effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party.

Commonly confused with

collaboration: Collaboration is working together for a positive or neutral goal; collusion is working together for a deceptive or illegal goal.

Word family

collude (verb): To act together secretly for a fraudulent purpose.

Collocations

act in collusion
evidence of collusion
price collusion

Example sentences

"Collusion is a secret agreement between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others." A legal definition from a dictionary.
"There was no evidence of collusion between the two tech giants to keep wages low across the industry." A news report on market behavior.

Memory hook

Collusion: They are 'all-in' (ollusion) together on a secret plan. Playing a secret game together.

When not to use

Do not use for open, legal partnerships or collaborations.

Fun facts

In the 14th century, 'collusion' was primarily used in a legal sense to describe a secret agreement between litigants to deceive a court.