Definition

1. Verb:
   • To act as an accomplice to someone, to act as an accessory to someone: To join with or assist another person, typically in committing a wrongful or illegal act. It implies a subordinate or secondary role in the misdeed.
   • To make common cause with someone (in a negative context): To align oneself with someone's plans or actions, especially when those actions are unethical, deceitful, or criminal.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Hắn a tòng với một người bạn cũ để lừa gạt bà cụ này. (He acted as an accomplice to an old friend to swindle this old woman.)
  • Không được a tòng với kẻ xấu. (Do not become an accessory to bad people.)
  • Nó chỉ a tòng theo bọn lừa đảo chứ không phải chủ mưu. (He merely acted in complicity with the fraudsters; he was not the mastermind.)

Advanced Usage

• The word "a tòng" carries a strong negative connotation and is almost exclusively used in contexts involving crime, deception, or immoral acts. It is not used for neutral or positive collaboration.
• It often describes a person who follows or assists a primary wrongdoer, highlighting a lack of principal responsibility but clear involvement.

Variants and Related Words

• Đồng phạm (noun): Accomplice, co-conspirator. This is a more formal legal term.
  • Hắn là kẻ đồng phạm trong vụ án. (He is an accomplice in the case.)
• Tiếp tay (verb): To lend a hand (often in a negative sense). This can be used in both serious and milder contexts of assisting in wrongdoing.
  • Tiếp tay cho hành vi trộm cắp. (To aid and abet theft.)

Synonyms

• Hùa theo (verb): To join in (a negative action), to follow the crowd in doing something bad. It can imply less premeditation than "a tòng".
• Đồng lõa (verb/noun): To be complicit; an accomplice. Very close in meaning, often used interchangeably in legal and everyday contexts.

Related Phrases / Idioms

• "A tòng phạm pháp": To be an accomplice to a crime. This phrase explicitly links the action to illegality.
  • Bị buộc tội a tòng phạm pháp. (To be charged with being an accessory to a crime.)
• While "a tòng" itself is not typically part of many idioms, its meaning is central to phrases describing criminal conspiracy and collaboration in misdeeds.

verb

1. To act as (be) an accomplice to someone, to act as (be) an accessory to someone, to make common cause with someone
   • hắn a tòng với một người bạn cũ để lừa gạt bà cụ này
     he was an accomplice to one of his old friends, so as to swindle this old woman