co-optation

noun

co-op·​ta·​tion ˌkō-ˌäp-ˈtä-shən 

: the act or an instance of co-opting something : a taking over or appropriation of something for a new or different purpose

The co-optation of the raised fist as a patriotic symbol …

—Niela Orr

Wolfe's shrewd co-optation of hip style in service of a meat-and-potatoes cultural agenda won countless admirers, who hailed him as a brilliant satirist with a voice extravagant as America itself.

—Rand Richards Cooper

Examples of co-optation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The epilogue, set at a Venice Biennale in the eighties, then switches to a touristy video format that drives home a point about the kitschy co-optation of art. —Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2025

India has used a mix of improvisation, co-optation, and coercion to control the northeast, often betraying its own constitutional values in the process. —Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025

The potential for co-optation is clearest in the business sector. —Steven Levitsky, Foreign Affairs, 11 Feb. 2025

Besides providing a more accurate picture of human behavior, paying more attention to variation can serve as an antidote to the nefarious co-optation of knowledge that feeds the online underbelly of Internet pseudoscience. —Brooke Scelza, Scientific American, 19 Sep. 2024

Eventually, Putin headed off the nationalist threat through a mix of repression and co-optation. —Jade McGlynn, Foreign Affairs, 17 Aug. 2023

When possible, the Rouhani team appears to prefer co-optation to overcome opposition from interest groups tied to hardliners such as those in the IRGC. —Alex Vatanka, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016

Intimidation played a role, co-optation played a role. —Foreign Affairs, 18 Apr. 2016

Kennedy’s co-optation of Black liberation efforts in community health distorts a nuanced history. —Time, 5 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for co-optation

• abdication
• aberration
• abjuration
• abnegation
• abrogation
• acceptation
• acclamation
• acclimation
• accusation
• activation
• actuation
• acylation