claque
/ˈklæk/
claque noun: a group of people hired to attend a performance and to either applaud or boo.
Noun
claque (plural claques)
- A group of people hired to attend a performance and to either applaud or boo.
- The most popular singers have been obliged to give free tickets and even to donate cash, lest the claque retaliate by frantic applause at the wrong moment.1930 February 23, “Theatre claqueurs in Vienna form union; now get two Wienerwursts for simple applause, six with beer for special ovations”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times...
- The claque isn't paid. In fact, claqueurs pay to get in. The inducement is that they can buy standing room for half price, without waiting in line.1957 December 22, John Briggs, “What every young claqueur should know”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2021...
- A group of fawning admirers.
- The most obvious gay connection to opera is the cult of the diva. Stauncher even than the fans of Garland of Striesand, the claques of Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland (among others) have been fanatical in their devotion. Going beyond the usual "appreciation stage" the fans glorify and deify their...1981 December 5, Michael Bronski, “Coming (Out) to Opera”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 20, page 6
- A group of people who pre-arrange among themselves to express strong support for an idea, so as to give the false impression of a wider consensus.
claque meaning in Urdu and Thai
claque in Urdu
- حواری
claque in Thai
- people hired to attend a performance and to either applaud or boo
- หน้าม้า nâa-máa
Examples of claque in a sentence
- It was clear that there was a claque of enthusiasts near the platform, whose Vivas! were caught be the microphones and magnified into a simulacrum of popular enthusiasm.2012, Theodore Dalrymple, The Wilder Shores of Marx: Journeys in a Vanishing World:
- Stauncher even than the fans of Garland of Striesand, the claques of Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland (among others) have been fanatical in their devotion.1981 December 5, Michael Bronski, “Coming (Out) to Opera”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 20, page 6:
Forms of claque
| plural | claques |
|---|
Origin of claque
Borrowed from French claque (“group of people hired to applaud or boo, claque”, literally “a slap; a clap”).
Words that rhyme with claque
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- plaque
- whack
- slack
- Cadillac
- swack
- thwack
- pac
- shack
- bivouac
- cack
- clack
- gack
- lack
- smack
- unpack
- wrack
- aback
- flak
- hark back
- mack
- flack
- knack
- quack
- shellac
- snack
- yak
- Aach
- ack
- gak
- mac
- Meshach
- multitrack
- plack
- snacc
- wack
- akh
- alack
- awrack
- brach
- cac
- Cayman Brac
- Chiraq
- cook back
- craic
- diclofenac
- dictionary attack
- dime back
- fac
Questions about claque
- What does claque mean?
- Claque means a group of people hired to attend a performance and to either applaud or boo.
- What is claque in Urdu?
- Claque in Urdu is حواری. See Claque meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use claque in a sentence?
- It was clear that there was a claque of enthusiasts near the platform, whose Vivas! were caught be the microphones and magnified into a simulacrum of popular enthusiasm.
- What part of speech is claque?
- Claque is a noun.
- How do you pronounce claque?
- Claque is pronounced /ˈklæk/ (UK).
- What is the plural of claque?
- The plural of claque is claques.
Words near claque in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: claque (page history and authors); claque (Urdu 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-claque.wav.
Cite this entry: “claque.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/claque. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.