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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ca·bal

Audio Help [kuh-bal] Pronunciation Key noun, verb, -balled, -bal·ling.

–noun

1.	a small group of secret plotters, as against a government or person in authority.

2.	the plots and schemes of such a group; intrigue.

3.	a clique, as in artistic, literary, or theatrical circles.

–verb (used without object)

4.	to form a cabal; intrigue; conspire; plot.

[Origin: 1610–20, for an earlier sense; earlier cabbal < ML cabbala. See cabala

]

—Related forms

ca·bal·ler, noun

—Synonyms 1. junta, faction, band, league, ring. 2. See conspiracy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
cabal

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ca·bal Audio Help (kə-bāl', -bäl') Pronunciation Key
n.

A conspiratorial group of plotters or intriguers: "Espionage is quite precisely it—a cabal of powerful men, working secretly" (Frank Conroy).
A secret scheme or plot.

intr.v. ca·balled, ca·bal·ling, ca·bals
To form a cabal; conspire.

[French cabale, from Medieval Latin cabala; see kabbalah.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
cabal

1616, from Fr. cabal "intrigue, society," originally "mystical interpretation of the Old Testament," from M.L. cabbala (see cabbala). Popularized in Eng. 1673 as an acronym for five intriguing ministers of Charles II (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

cabal
noun
1.	a clique (often secret) that seeks power usually through intrigue
2.	a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act (especially a political plot) [syn: conspiracy]
verb
1.	engage in plotting or enter into a conspiracy, swear together; "They conspired to overthrow the government" [syn: conspire]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cabal

Ca*bal"\ (k[.a]*b[a^]l"), n. [F. cabale cabal, cabala, LL. cabala cabala, fr. Heb. qabb[=a]l[=e]h reception, tradition, mysterious doctrine, fr. q[=a]bal to take or receive, in Pi["e]l qibbel to adopt (a doctrine).]

1. Tradition; occult doctrine. See Cabala [Obs.] --Hakewill.

2. A secret. [Obs.] "The measuring of the temple, a cabal found out but lately." --B. Jonson.

3. A number of persons united in some close design, usually to promote their private views and interests in church or state by intrigue; a secret association composed of a few designing persons; a junto.

Note: It so happend, by a whimsical coincidence, that in 1671 the cabinet consisted of five persons, the initial letters of whose names made up the word cabal; Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale. --Macaulay.

4. The secret artifices or machinations of a few persons united in a close design; intrigue.

By cursed cabals of women. --Dryden.

Syn: Junto; intrigue; plot; combination; conspiracy.

Usage: Cabal, Combination, Faction. An association for some purpose considered to be bad is the idea common to these terms. A combination is an organized union of individuals for mutual support, in urging their demands or resisting the claims of others, and may be good or bad according to circumstances; as, a combiniation of workmen or of employers to effect or to prevent a change in prices. A cabal is a secret association of a few individuals who seek by cunning practices to obtain office and power. A faction is a larger body than a cabal, employed for selfish purposes in agitating the community and working up an excitement with a view to change the existing order of things. "Selfishness, insubordination, and laxity of morals give rise to combinations, which belong particularly to the lower orders of society. Restless, jealous, ambitious, and little minds are ever forming cabals. Factions belong especially to free governments, and are raised by busy and turbulent spirits for selfish purposes". --Crabb.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cabal

1. Tradition; occult doctrine. See Cabala [Obs.] --Hakewill.

2. A secret. [Obs.] "The measuring of the temple, a cabal found out but lately." --B. Jonson.

4. The secret artifices or machinations of a few persons united in a close design; intrigue.

By cursed cabals of women. --Dryden.

Syn: Junto; intrigue; plot; combination; conspiracy.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cabal

Ca*bal"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Caballed (-b[a^]ld"); p. pr. & vb. n. Caballing]. [Cf. F. cabaler.] To unite in a small party to promote private views and interests by intrigue; to intrigue; to plot.

Caballing still against it with the great. --Dryden.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cabal

Cab"a*la\ (k[a^]b"[.a]*l[.a]), n. [LL. See Cabal, n.]

1. A kind of occult theosophy or traditional interpretation of the Scriptures among Jewish rabbis and certain medi[ae]val Christians, which treats of the nature of god and the mystery of human existence. It assumes that every letter, word, number, and accent of Scripture contains a hidden sense; and it teaches the methods of interpretation for ascertaining these occult meanings. The cabalists pretend even to foretell events by this means.

2. Secret science in general; mystic art; mystery.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cabal

Com`bi*na"tion\, n. [LL. combinatio. See Combine.]

1. The act or process of combining or uniting persons and things.

Making new compounds by new combinations. --Boyle.

A solemn combination shall be made Of our dear souls. --Shak.

2. The result of combining or uniting; union of persons or things; esp. a union or alliance of persons or states to effect some purpose; -- usually in a bad sense.

A combination of the most powerful men in Rome who had conspired my ruin. --Melmoth.

3. (Chem.) The act or process of uniting by chemical affinity, by which substances unite with each other in definite proportions by weight to form distinct compounds.

4. pl. (Math.) The different arrangements of a number of objects, as letters, into groups.

Note: In combinations no regard is paid to the order in which the objects are arranged in each group, while in variations and permutations this order is respected. --Brande & C.

Combination car, a railroad car containing two or more compartments used for different purposes. [U. S.]

Combination lock, a lock in which the mechanism is controlled by means of a movable dial (sometimes by several dials or rings) inscribed with letters or other characters. The bolt of the lock can not be operated until after the dial has been so turned as to combine the characters in a certain order or succession.

Combination room, in the University of Cambridge, Eng., a room into which the fellows withdraw after dinner, for wine, dessert, and conversation.

Combination by volume (Chem.), the act, process, or ratio by which gaseous elements and compounds unite in definite proportions by volume to form distinct compounds.

Combination by weight (Chem.), the act, process, or ratio, in which substances unite in proportions by weight, relatively fixed and exact, to form distinct compounds. See Law of definite proportions, under Definite.

Syn: Cabal; alliance; association; league; union; confederacy; coalition; conspiracy. See Cabal.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Cabal

Fac"tion\, n. [L. factio a doing, a company of persons acting together, a faction: cf. F. faction See Fashion.]

1. (Anc. Hist.) One of the divisions or parties of charioteers (distinguished by their colors) in the games of the circus.

2. A party, in political society, combined or acting in union, in opposition to the government, or state; -- usually applied to a minority, but it may be applied to a majority; a combination or clique of partisans of any kind, acting for their own interests, especially if greedy, clamorous, and reckless of the common good.

3. Tumult; discord; dissension.

They remained at Newbury in great faction among themselves. --Clarendon.

Syn: Combination; clique; junto. See Cabal.

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cabal

cabal was Word of the Day on September 25, 2001.

Dictionary.com Word of the Day

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