SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
confederate
noun
A person or group joined with another for a shared purpose.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Associate in a shared plan
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topAccomplice and co-conspirator imply wrongdoing; ally and collaborator can describe legitimate cooperation.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See confederate in use
The detective suspected that the thief had a confederate inside the house.
A confederate of the investigator joins her effort to reconstruct the public timeline, illustrating that the word can describe an ally rather than an offender.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license