Did you know?
Cabal has been associated with a group of five ministers in the government of England's King Charles II. The initial letters of the names or titles of those men (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale) spelled cabal, and they have been collectively dubbed as the "Cabal Cabinet" or "Cabal Ministry." But these five names are not the source of the word cabal, which was in use decades before Charles II ascended the throne. The term traces back to cabbala, the Medieval Latin name for the Kabbalah, a traditional system of esoteric Jewish mysticism. Latin borrowed Cabbala from the Hebrew qabbālāh, meaning "received or traditional lore."
Examples of cabal in a Sentence
Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 19 Mar. 2026
Camus’s conspiracy that a cabal of powerful elites is plotting a great replacement to ensure the exploitation and domination of low- and middle-income White people is nothing short of a grand distraction.
—Literary Hub, 18 Mar. 2026
Martin Finucane, BostonGlobe.com, 14 June 2019
Powell is drawing encouragement from the significant losses of candidates who, like Burton, are backed by the Empower Texans cabal attempting to take control of the Texas Legislature.
—Richard Greene, star-telegram, 24 May 2018
See All Example Sentences for cabal
Cite this Entry
“Cabal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cabal. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
Copy Citation
