# coalition
## English
### Alternative forms

* coälition (rare)

### Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French coalition, from Medieval Latin coalitiō, coalitiōnem, from Latin coalitus.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /kəʊ.əˈlɪʃ.ən/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /koʊ.əˈlɪʃ.ən/
* Rhymes: -ɪʃən

### Noun

coalition (countable and uncountable, plural coalitions)
* A temporary group or union of organizations, usually formed for a particular advantage.
    The Liberal Democrats and Conservative parties formed a coalition government in 2010.
** 2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2013:At a time when Mr. Cameron is being squeezed from both sides — from the right by members of his own party and by the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe U.K. Independence Party, and from the left by his Liberal Democrat coalition partners — the move seemed uncharacteristically clunky.
** 2025 February 22, Sebastian Shukla, Nadine Schmidt and Claudia Otto, “Germany is holding a national election. Here’s what’s at stake”, in CNN‎:In a quirk of German politics, the governing coalitions are often given names. The previous coalition government, headed by the SPD (red), included the Green Party (green) and Liberal Party (yellow) - together they were known as the “traffic light” coalition.
* (rare) The collective noun for a group of cheetahs.
** 2013 August 7, Joshi Herrmann, “How cricket netted the hipsters”, in London Evening Standard:Sometimes the ante is upped, the gaggle of bowlers all working on their batsman in turn, like a coalition of cheetahs singling out a vulnerable gazelle, sending their distinctive balls down until the pressure forces a mistake or the batsman gets his own back by smashing a bad ball over everyone’s heads.
** 2014 September 6, Darren Boyle, “Running wild! Mother cheetah has SIX cubs keeping her busy by jumping, hiding and climbing all over her”, in The Daily Mail:Majed Sultan Ali was on his second visit to the game reserve in a bid to photograph a coalition of cheetahs.
** 2015 June 11, “This is the moment an ostrich attempts to outrun cheetahs in Sir David Attenborough's latest show”, in Bristol Post:This is the incredible moment a juvenile ostrich attempts to outrun a coalition of cheetahs that forms a central part of the latest BBC programme to be presented by Sir David Attenborough.

#### Derived terms

* anticoalition
* Coalie
* coalitional
* coalitionary
* coalition builder
* coalitioner
* coalition government
* coalitionism
* coalitionist
* coalition logic
* coalition of the willing
* coalitionology
* countercoalition
* First Coalition
* Fourth Coalition
* grand coalition
* intercoalition
* intracoalition
* Jamaica coalition
* noncoalition
* precoalition
* rainbow coalition
* Second Coalition
* subcoalition
* supercoalition
* Third Coalition
* traffic light coalition

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* coitional

## French
### Alternative forms

* coälition (rare)

### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin coalitiōnem, from Latin coalitus (“fellowship, communion”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kɔ.a.li.sjɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

coalition f (plural coalitions)
* coalition

#### Derived terms

* gouvernement de coalition

#### Descendants

* → Polish: koalicja
* → Romanian: coaliție
* → Turkish: koalisyon

### Further reading

* “coalition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.