ON POLITICS

Merriam-Webster defines complicit for Ivanka Trump

Mary Bowerman

USA TODAY Network

Merriam-Webster dictionary wasted no time in filling Ivanka Trump in after she said in an interview that she didn't know the meaning of the word complicit.

In an interview with Gayle King on CBS, Ivanka Trump addressed critics who said she and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, are “complicit” with President Trump.

“I don’t know what it means to be complicit, but you know, I hope time will prove that I have done a good job, and much more importantly, that my father’s administration is the success that I know it will be,” she said.

Merriam-Webster tweeted that following the interview there was an uptick in searches for the definition of complicit on their site.

"'Complicit' is trending after Ivanka Trump told CBS "I don’t know what it means to be complicit,'" the dictionary tweeted along with a link to the definition.

Ivanka Trump told King that in her case complicit could mean the following: “If being complicit is wanting to... be a force for good and to make a positive impact then I’m complicit," she said.

That's not exactly what complicit means. According to Merriam-Webster, complicit is defined as "helping to commit a crime or do wrong in some way. ex. He was complicit in the cover-up."