Forum: ell.stackexchange.com
Tags: <word-request><verbs>
Title: What verb goes with "coup"?
Question: The coup was ______ in this country by the United States.  It was indeed United States that ______ the coup in this country.  If the problems take a turn to the worse, then the army would ______ a  coup.   I want a verb for the blanks. In the above contexts, the United States or the army are meant to be the  main   agency  in doing the coup.    I thought about  run/ran  and  set . Are these idiomatic suggestions? Any better suggestions?

Answers:
sents: text: You stage a coup, like the documentary How to Stage a Coup . to produce or cause to happen for public view or public effect // stage a track meet //
text: stage a hunger strike (source: Merriam-Webster )
text: In cases like this, an NGram search is often helpful.
text: (The * basically means "find the words most used at that position" and _VERB specifies you're only looking for verbs.)
text: Here, we can see that stage is the most commonly used verb.
text: Of course, you do need to pay attention to what the words actually mean; other top hits like plan and attempt mean something else.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/18673/Glorfindel
score: 37
sents: text: While the term stage in Glorfindel's answer is widely applicable, it implies primarily the planning and preparation for a coup and not necessarily success.
text: Less common but used to refer specifically to the actions involved to carry out the plan is
text: execute a coup , which does imply success.
text: M-W : to carry out fully : put completely into effect // execute a command
text: In the case of your example, it's possible that a coup might be staged by the United States but executed by some local organization.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/2536/chrylis -cautiouslyoptimistic-
score: 12
sents: text: Another possibility is to orchestrate a coup . or‧ches‧trate /ˈɔːkəstreɪt
text: $ ˈɔːr-/ verb [transitive] (written) to organize an important event or a complicated plan, especially secretly Example:
text: The riots were orchestrated by anti-government forces.
text: (Source: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English )
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/86485/Martin Frodl
score: 6
sents: text: "Mount" is an alternative to "stage" stage/lead/mount a coup Macmillan Dictionary stage/mount/launch a coup Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English to stage/mount a coup Oxford Learner's Dictionaries: English
text: It is considerably less common on Google Ngrams though.
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/97676/user97676
score: 5
sents: text: What word to use there depends on what you want to say.
text: The term "stage" implies that the entity in question actually performed the coup.
text: For a outside party that has less of a direct role, there's "instigate" instigate : to goad or urge forward : PROVOKE https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/instigate or "back" : to support by material or moral assistance backing a candidate for governor —often used with up back up a friend in a fight https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/back
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/61500/Acccumulation
score: 3
sents: text: I believe coups are engineered .
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/97690/blue439
score: 1
sents: text: Foment - "instigate or stir up (an undesirable or violent sentiment or course of action)."
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/69190/JacobIRR
score: 1
sents: text: Depending upon your intended exact meaning, you could use "precipitate," "catalyze," or "encourage."
answer_details: author: ell.stackexchange.com/users/97673/parseczero
score: 0

Summary of the answers:
Mount is an alternative to "stage"   stage/lead/mount a coup   Macmillan Dictionary  stage/mount/launch a coup   Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English  to stage/mount a coup   Oxford Learner's Dictionaries: English. The term "stage" implies that the entity in question actually performed the coup. For an outside party that has less of a direct role, there's "instigate"   instigate    : to goad or urge forward
The possibilities are as follows: "stage", "orchestrate", "mount", "instigate", "engineer","stir up", "foment", "precipitate", "catalyse" and "encourage".