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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
Staff Report, Hartford Courant, 5 Mar. 2025
What To Know Several of Russia's influential cabal of military bloggers, often used as indicators of battlefield changes in lieu of official statements from Moscow, reported advances by the Kremlin's troops around Sudzha on Tuesday.
—Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 11 Mar. 2025
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
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Cite this Entry
“Cabal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cabal. Accessed 17 Apr. 2025.
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