Other forms: colluded, colluding, colludes
To collude is to work together in secret for a dishonest end. Collude with the other side, collude to fix prices, alleged to have colluded.
It nearly always takes with or to, and the secrecy is essential, since two firms agreeing openly are merging rather than colluding. The Latin means to play together.
1verbcolludeTo work together in secret for a dishonest end.
“The two companies colluded to keep prices high.”
collude is a conspiring.
Latin colludere means to play together, from com plus ludere, to play.
Latin
collūdere
English, today
collude
Built from
From Latin collūdere, from con- and lūdere* (“to play”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA