aided and abetted
Helped commit crime
Aided and abetted is a legal phrase meaning helped and encouraged someone to commit a wrongful act.
The two words are near-synonyms reinforcing each other—aid emphasizes practical assistance, abet emphasizes encouragement or instigation.
Outside legal contexts, the phrase often appears sarcastically or hyperbolically: She aided and abetted his junk food habit by keeping the pantry stocked with chips.
- conspirePlot secretly with others
- criminal conspiracyCoordinated plan to break law
- in cahootsSecretly cooperating dishonestly
- assistTo give support
- helpAssistance given
complicity · joint enterprise · encourage · crime · mens rea · harboring · accessory · after the fact · culpability · collude · aid · criminal liability · felony · collaborate · connive · under the table · offense · guilty party
aided and abettedhindered
Slowed or obstructed
obstructed · thwarted · impeded · blocked · sabotaged
aided and abettedmasterminded
Planned and directed cleverly
orchestrated · led · instigated · planned · directed
aided, aiding, abet, abetted, abetting, abets, abettor, abetment