aid and abet

Definitions

1. To assist (someone) in an illegal act as an accessory or accomplice.
   transitive
2. To assist someone in (an illegal act) as an accessory or accomplice.
   transitive
3. To be an accessory or accomplice to someone in an illegal act.
   intransitive

Equivalents

3 more languages

한국어공모(共謀)하다

Македонскипомогне

Svenskamedverka

Examples

“A bank employee was accused of aiding and abetting the gang of robbers.”

“In my future letters I shall perhaps take⟳ the opportunity to prove⟳ to you that the more men there are in a state, the more prosperous its commerce; I shall prove⟳ as easily, that as commerce flourishes, men increase⟳; these two things necessarily aid and abet each other.”

“What oppressed Jude was the thought that, having done a wrong thing of this sort⟳ himself, he was aiding and abetting the woman he loved in doing a like⟳ wrong thing, instead of imploring and warning her against it.”

“Caught, red-handed, on the spot, in the very act of aiding and abetting the traitors against the Republic of France, the Englishman could claim⟳ no protection from his own⟳ country.”

“Moreover, "the superstitious" Fryer Lawrence—a figure⟳ of no higher moral standing than a "dronken gossyppe"—wilfully aids and abets the lovers [Romeo and Juliet] in their perfidious course of action, using the secret, even occultist, rituals of the Catholic Church to achieve⟳ his perverse ends.”

“Murder⟳ itself was not more sternly and certainly punished in the State of Maryland, than that of aiding and abetting the escape⟳ of a slave.”

“From about April 13 to about May 17, 1962, registrant, during a time when it was undergoing a change⟳ in ownership and management, together with or aided and abetted by Smythe, willfully violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 […]”

CEFR level