cabal
/kəˈbɑːl/
cabal noun: a putative, secret organization of individuals gathered for a political purpose.
Noun
cabal (plural cabals)
- A putative, secret organization of individuals gathered for a political purpose.
- The cabal is plotting to ruin the world.
- Undaunted and implacable, prudent and active; no opposition of the French princes or nobles could withstand his vengeance, no cabals could escape his penetration.1754, David Hume, “[Charles I.]”, in The History of Great Britain, under the House of Stuart, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1759, →OCLC, page 154
- Synonyms:
- camarilla
- A secret plot.
- The cabal to destroy the building was foiled by federal agents.
- Synonyms:
- conspiracy
- An identifiable group within the tradition of Discordianism.
- Some episkoposes have a one-man cabal. Some work together. Some never do explain.1965, Greg Hill, Kerry Thornley, Principia Discordia
Verb
cabal (third-person singular simple present cabals, present participle (US) cabaling or (UK) caballing, simple past and past participle (US) cabaled or (UK) caballed)
- To engage in the activities of a cabal.
- [W]e think it very unbecoming our Prudence, that the Determination ſhould be remitted to the Authors themſelves; when our Adversaries, by Briguing and Caballing, have cauſed so univerſal a Defection from us, that the greater Part of our Society has already deſerted to them, […]1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section I. The Introduction.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, page 45
- […] I believed her to have been carried off by some persons belonging to a party of Jacobites who were known to be caballing against the government, though to what extent was not then ascertained.1840, George Payne Rainsford James, The King’s Highway, volume I, pages 68–69
Proper noun capitalized: Cabal
Cabal (plural Cabals)
- A surname.
cabal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
cabal in Hindi
- secret organization
- गुट guṭ
cabal in Tamil
- மறை சூழ்ச்சி, சதி, மறை குழு, சதிக்கூட்டம், மறைமுகக் கட்சி அமை, சதி செய்
cabal in Urdu
- جتھہ, سانٹھ گانٹھ, سازش, سازشی گروہ
cabal in Bengali
- গোপন ষড়যন্ত্রকারী দল, চক্র
More languagesFewer languages
- cabal in Telugu
- క్యాబిల్, క్యాబెల్
- cabal in Malayalam
- ഗൂഢാലോചനക്കൂട്ടം, രഹസ്യക്കൂട്ടുകെട്ട്, ഉപജാപസംഘം, വെെതാളികസംഘം
- cabal in Kannada
- ಒಳಸಂಚು, ಹೂಟ
Examples of cabal in a sentence
- With his active and intriguing temper, Francis would doubtless have taken an eager part in the court cabals and conspiracies which make the history of Charles the Second; […]1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry...
- But the Subalterns' and Captains' ladies (the Major is unmarried) cabal against her a good deal.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
Synonyms of cabal
Forms of cabal
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cabals |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | cabals |
| present participle US | cabaling |
| present participle UK | caballing |
| past participle US | cabaled |
| past US | cabaled |
| past participle UK | caballed |
| past UK | caballed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Cabals |
Origin of cabal
From French cabale, from Medieval Latin cabbala, which in turn is derived from Hebrew קַבָּלָה (kabalá, “Jewish mysticism”, literally “reception, something received”) (such as knowledge). Doublet of Kabbalah, as well as, more distantly, ghibli.
Words formed from cabal
Phrases with cabal
Words that rhyme with cabal
Questions about cabal
- What does cabal mean?
- Cabal means a putative, secret organization of individuals gathered for a political purpose.
- What is cabal in Hindi?
- Cabal in Hindi is गुट (guṭ). See Cabal meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cabal in a sentence?
- With his active and intriguing temper, Francis would doubtless have taken an eager part in the court cabals and conspiracies which make the history of Charles the Second; […]
- What part of speech is cabal?
- Cabal can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cabal?
- Cabal is pronounced /kəˈbɑːl/.
- What is the plural of cabal?
- The plural of cabal is cabals.
Words near cabal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cabal (page history and authors); Cabal (page history and authors); cabal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cabal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cabal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cabal (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cabal (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); cabal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cabal1.wav, En-us-cabal.oga.
Cite this entry: “cabal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cabal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.