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Definitions

cabal

[kuh-bal, kuh-bawl] / kəˈbæl, kəˈbɔl /
NOUN
plot
Synonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Conspiracy theories surfaced online that the whale had been deliberately driven into the Baltic Sea and all had been staged by a cabal of scientists, authorities and environmental organisations.

From Barron's Apr. 23, 2026

This is evidently what the investment cabal has done.

From MarketWatch Jan. 16, 2026

It seemed reasonable to assume that once Patel realized that there was no cabal running the bureau, he would be able to calm everyone down.

From Slate Dec. 16, 2025

Then he traces how a theocratic cabal, whose rule most observers thought would be short, found a way to consolidate power.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 3, 2025

Once we passed a cabal of figures in black cloaks and tricornes carrying torches and whispering together.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

That Epstein’s crimes were confined to himself and a few enablers, chiefly Ghislaine Maxwell, was intolerable to influencers and politicos determined to attribute all bad things to the dark workings of cabals.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 11, 2026

So rather than accepting that the world is a complicated place nobody can control, they're susceptible to the idea that there are secret cabals out to get them.

From Salon Jul. 17, 2023

These stories offered agency: Evil cabals could be defeated.

From New York Times Jan. 29, 2021

“As soon as they heard that, a lot of cabals here in Hollywood, that’s all they needed to hear. It’s like, ‘OK, she must be destroyed.’

From Washington Times Oct. 3, 2019

Men muttered in small cabals or threatened one another by the fireside, cutting each other with their eyes and hissing, vaunting superiority in their familiarity with the Unseen.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

The three last-named persons often held little conspiracies together, and caballed or grumbled against the head of the house.

From The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray

He laughed at the crises: he disdained this war of words, caballed against ministers, and treated passing events with levity.

From History of the Girondists, Volume I Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution by H. T. Ryde

He caballed with the very men to whom he had hitherto been most vehemently opposed for the sole object of expelling Lord Shelburne from office.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Charles Duke Yonge

For this end alone they consulted, and caballed, and calculated, and junketed; and the Lecompton Constitution, with the Schedule annexed, was the worthy fruit of their labors.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 06, April, 1858 by Various

They caballed, traduced the Baron, and he fell into disgrace.

From After London Or, Wild England by Richard Jefferies

Henry Kissinger happened to be visiting London at the time and witnessed the caballing against her.

From Newsweek Apr. 8, 2013

For my own share, I have preserved peace in my house till your arrival: and I warn you, that if you have the passion of intriguing and caballing, you have applied to the wrong hand.

From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 16 by Thomas Carlyle

Still busily seeking, I suppose, to be a pick-thanks with those in power by casting ridicule on those they are caballing to destroy.”

From Janice Meredith by Paul Leicester Ford

"Why, then," said my father, "they may have the pleasure of caballing and cutting up one another, even in the same room."

From The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 1 by Fanny Burney

By dint of caballing, he succeeded in obtaining an open competition for the work in question; whoever chose, was at liberty to send in his picture, and the best would obtain the preference.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 62, No. 384, October 1847 by Various




Vocabulary lists containing cabal


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