prospiracy

English

Etymology

A play on the word conspiracy, where the con- element, reinterpreted as con (“a disadvantage”), has been altered to pro (“an advantage”). By surface analysis, pro- +‎ conspiracy.

Noun

prospiracy (plural prospiracies)

1. (rare, nonce word) A secret plan by a group to do something beneficial.
   • 1897, Gelett Burgess, chapter 5, in Vivette: Or, The Memoirs of the Romance Association, 2nd edition, volumes 1–3, Boston: Copeland & Day, page 141:

     Prospiracy. A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing. [Page heading]

   • 2011 March 31, Daniel Pinchbeck, “Daniel Pinchbeck: 10”, in Dazed‎^[1], archived from the original on 2021-01-25:

     According to this narrative, we are part of a vast ancient prospiracy to awaken humanity to its spiritual greatness and create a movement of solidarity that brings about a next age of conscious evolution.

   • 2019 March 19, Chase Mielke, The Burnout Cure: Learning to Love Teaching Again, ASCD, →ISBN, page 146:

     In my positive psychology class, I have student mentors who help lead small groups. One of the challenges I give each mentor is to create a "prospiracy" for someone in their group who could use a boost. You're familiar with conspiracies, which are organized, secret commitments to do wrong. A prospiracy keeps the organized secrecy part but swaps evil for good.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:prospiracy.

Antonyms

• conspiracy

Further reading

• Grant Barrett (2007 January 15) “prospiracy”, in Double-Tongued Dictionary‎^[2], archived from the original on September 20, 2021