Word.ws English Dictionary

caucus

/ˈkɔːkəs/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/ˈkoːkəs/

caucus noun: a usually preliminary meeting of party members to nominate candidates for public office or delegates to be sent to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding policy.

Noun

caucus (plural caucuses or caucusses)

  1. (Canada, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, US, Zimbabwe) A usually preliminary meeting of party members to nominate candidates for public office or delegates to be sent to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding policy.
    • He conferred with Mr. Warren of Plymouth upon the necessity of giving into spirited measures, and then said, "Do you keep the committee in play, and I will go and make a caucus against the evening; and do you meet me."1788, William Gordon, The History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment, of the Independence of the United States of America
  2. (Canada, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, US, Zimbabwe) A grouping of all the members of a legislature from the same party.
    Synonyms:
    parliamentary group
  3. (Canada, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, US, Zimbabwe) A political interest group by members of a legislative body.

Verb

caucus (third-person singular simple present caucuses or caucusses, present participle caucusing or caucussing, simple past and past participle caucused or caucussed)

  1. (Canada, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, US, Zimbabwe) To meet and participate in a caucus.
    • Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut said yesterday that he will caucus with Senate Democrats in the new Congress, but he would not rule out switching to the Republican caucus if he starts to feel uncomfortable among Democrats.2006 November 13, “Lieberman won't rule out GOP caucusing”, in Boston Globe, sourced from Associated Press, archived from the original on 28 Nov 2006
    • The diehard Republicans of Kansas caucused today and delivered a big victory for Mike Huckabee, McCain's remaining serious challenger.2008 February 9, Richard Adams, “Huckabee wins Kansas!”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
  2. (Canada, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, US, Zimbabwe) To confer.
    • The protesters caucused nearby to discuss demands.1980 December 27, John Zeh, “Cincy Activists Protest Store's Violent Sex Wares”, in Gay Community News, volume 8, number 23, page 6
  3. (Canada, Israel, Pakistan, South Africa, US, Zimbabwe) To bring into or treat in a caucus.
    • Although journalists from the private media were barred from entering the hall, different districts caucused the meeting, discussing the voting centres and other logistics.2017 May 6, Tatenda Chitagu, “Zanu PF to stage one-man chairmanship polls”, in NewsDay Zimbabwe, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2020

caucus meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

caucus in Hindi

कॉकस, काकस, कौकस

caucus in Tamil

காக்கஸ், காகஸ், காக்கூஸ்

caucus in Marathi

कॉकस, काकस, कौकस

caucus in Urdu

کاؤکس
More languagesFewer languages
caucus in Bengali
ককাস, কাকাস, ককাসকে
caucus in Telugu
కాకస్
caucus in Malayalam
സമ്മേളനം, സമാഗമം, സഭ, സദസ്സ്
caucus in Kannada
ರಹಸ್ಯಕೂಟ, ದುಷ್ಟಕೂಟ
caucus in Punjabi
ਕਾਕਸ
caucus in Gujarati
કોકસ, કાકસ
caucus in Odia
କାକସ୍, କକସ୍, କକସ
caucus in Nepali
काकस, ककस, कोकस
caucus in Indonesian
kaukus

Examples of caucus in a sentence

  • Angus King of Maine, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats.2019 March 26, Rebecca Shabad, Dartunorro Clark, “Senate fails to advance Green New Deal as Democrats protest McConnell 'sham vote'”, in...
  • Guardian Australia understands the Liberal states have caucused, and they want the newly elected Morrison government to reboot the Neg, or something very like it.2019 June 21, Katharine Murphy, “Australia's energy future: the real power is not where you’d think”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

All 22 example sentences with caucus

Synonyms of caucus

Forms of caucus

Noun
pluralcaucuses
pluralcaucusses
Verb
third-person singular presentcaucuses
third-person singular presentcaucusses
present participlecaucusing
present participlecaucussing
past participlecaucused
pastcaucused
past participlecaucussed
pastcaucussed

Origin of caucus

Unknown. Often claimed to be from an Algonquian language; transcribed words such as cawaassough and caucauasu meaning "counselor, elder, adviser" appear in early texts. A popular folk etymology attested in Great Leaders and National Issues of 1896 stated: "In the early part of the eighteenth century a number of caulkers connected with the shipping business in the North End of Boston held a meeting for consultation. That meeting was the germ of the political caucuses which have formed so prominent a feature of our government ever since its organization." American Heritage Dictionary states the term is taken from the Caucus Club of Boston in the 1760s, possibly from Medieval Latin caucus (“drinking vessel”).

Words formed from caucus

Phrases with caucus

Words that rhyme with caucus

Questions about caucus

What does caucus mean?
Caucus means a usually preliminary meeting of party members to nominate candidates for public office or delegates to be sent to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding policy.
What is caucus in Hindi?
Caucus in Hindi is कॉकस, काकस, कौकस. See Caucus meaning in Hindi.
How do you use caucus in a sentence?
Angus King of Maine, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
What part of speech is caucus?
Caucus can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce caucus?
Caucus is pronounced /ˈkɔːkəs/ (UK).
What is the plural of caucus?
The plural of caucus is caucuses.

Words near caucus in the dictionary

  1. Cauchy-Riemann equations
  2. Cauchy-Schwarz inequalities
  3. Cauchy-Schwarz inequality
  4. Cauchyan
  5. Cauchyian
  6. caucus
  7. caucus race
  8. caucus races
  9. caucus-goer
  10. caucus-goers
  11. caucusdom

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: caucus (page history and authors); caucus (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); caucus (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); caucus (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); caucus (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

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Cite this entry: “caucus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/caucus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.