The Articulate Professional online!

- Helping executives extend the reach and impact of their communications since 1993

Cabal

printer friendly format

(pronounced kuh-bahl or kuh-bal)  noun

Definition

1. a small group of people engaged in a secret (often political) plot or scheme, usually with a faithless or evil end.   2. the intrigues and secret schemes of such a group.   3. a small, exclusive circle or group of associates in a creative (and wholesome) endeavor.

Main Example

• The declassification of a report on harsh interrogation tactics employed by the intelligence agencies since Sept. 11 has resulted in a brouhaha in Washington. At the time of this writing, many lawmakers were calling for a bipartisan body to investigate the cabal of top justice department and other government officials who "asked for information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees in Gitmo and elsewhere."

Workplace Examples

• I really look forward to my daily coffee breaks with Pat, Lee, and Kim. The sessions have turned into sort of a cabal for outside-the-box thinking. In recent weeks, we've generated tons of new ideas!
• We ought to broaden our committee and make it more representative. Because the existing members all look alike, think alike, and act alike, outsiders probably view us as some kind of a cabal pursuing our own self-serving agenda.

Other Examples

• at an industry conference in Las Vegas, participants meeting in small cabals in coffee shops during the breaks to thrash out critical issues
• a cabal of dissident executives and directors working to oust the CEO
• recent laws making school playground equipment safer enacted not because of pressure from some anti-business cabal, but because teachers and parents were clamoring for better safeguards
• a coal industry cabal romanticizing the notion of "clean coal" which, as per "ABC World News with Charlie Gibson," is far from proven technology
• to garner greater exposure, a cabal of native artists in an Alaskan town establishing a gallery that will exhibit their works exclusively

© 2009 V.J. Singal
No part of this may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the author.

Send a Comment to the Author

This Month's Other Words

To help you sharply enhance your vocabulary

The Articulate Professional -- 3rd Edition
Click here for features and sample pages, or place an order.

Copyright © 1999 - 2009 by V.J. Singal. Articulate is a registered trademark.
Questions or comments may be sent directly to the author.
Phone: 281-463-2500, P.O. Box 841155, Houston, TX 77284-1155