coterie
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkəʊtəɹi/
ipa: /ˈkoʊtəɹi/
ipa: /ˌkoʊtəˈɹi/
ipa: [ˈkoʊɾəɹi]
ipa: [ˌkoʊɾəˈɹi]
Forms: form: coteries
Etymology: Borrowed from French coterie.
Senses: examples: text: The new junior employee joined our merry after-hours coterie.
text: A tightly knit coterie of executive powerbrokers made all the real decisions in the company.
text: Baskets of game had reached her house, but not a single line, in his own hand, had met her eye. Better it should be so: Georgiana was not yet in a state to "lure the gentle tassel back," but no thanks to the chattering coterie whom she had courted for the sole purpose of rendering the marquis reassured on the subject of proper acquaintance.
ref: 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 27:
text: The verses were copied out, handed about, sneered at, admired, passed from coterie to coterie.
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 19, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
text: The branch was worked by pull-and push ^([sic]) trains, drawn or propelled by one of a small coterie of the sprightly little Wolverhampton type of 0-4-2 side tanks.
ref: 1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 18:
text: In the case of a crack-smoking, prostitute-frequenting Mr. Sheen, many people in Hollywood say there is a long list of enablers: managers and agents and publicists; a coterie of assistants and party buddies; prostitutes, drug dealers and sex film stars; and the tabloid media, which have fed on Mr. Sheen’s antics for years.
ref: 2011 March 7, Brooks Barnes, Bill Carter, Michael Cieply, “Sheen Is Surrounded by a Coterie of Enablers”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
text: So the thought of closing the Academy is not based in malice; the action might prove enlightening and refreshing. The old club coterie has very little excuse, and its loss would leave few casualties.
ref: 2016 March 3, David Thomson, “Biggest lesson of the 2016 Oscars? The Academy should be scrapped”, in The Guardian:
synonyms: clique
glosses: A circle of individuals who associate with one another for a common purpose.
examples: text: The coterie was located in the middle of our wheat field.
text: The population of each coterie constantly changes over a period of a few months or years, by death, birth, and emigration. But the coterie boundary remains about the same, being learned by each prairie dog born into it.
ref: 2000, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, page 473:
text: The odd part of prairie dog life is that this friendly state exists only among the members of each coterie, and does not extend between coteries.
ref: 2001, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Emperor's Embrace: The Evolution of Fatherhood:
text: Young prairie dogs in a coterie are brothers and sisters. They have the same father and sometimes the same mother. To find a mate from a different family, young prairie dogs must travel to a new area.
ref: 2009, Miriam Aronin, The Prairie Dog's Town: A Perfect Hideaway, page 22:
glosses: A communal burrow of prairie dogs.
Derived terms: coterieism
petticoatery
Related terms: cottage