Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

cabal

[kuh-bal, kuh-bawl] / kəˈbæl, kəˈbɔl /
NOUN
plot
Synonyms


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Conspiracy theories surfaced online that the whale had been deliberately driven into the Baltic Sea and all had been staged by a cabal of scientists, authorities and environmental organisations.

From Barron's Apr. 23, 2026

This is evidently what the investment cabal has done.

From MarketWatch Jan. 16, 2026

It was the inner circle, a cabal I’d tried to disband for more than a decade.

From Slate Jan. 13, 2026

The danger here goes beyond the podcast cabal and a misguided think-tank leader.

From The Wall Street Journal Nov. 2, 2025

Once we passed a cabal of figures in black cloaks and tricornes carrying torches and whispering together.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

That Epstein’s crimes were confined to himself and a few enablers, chiefly Ghislaine Maxwell, was intolerable to influencers and politicos determined to attribute all bad things to the dark workings of cabals.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 11, 2026

So rather than accepting that the world is a complicated place nobody can control, they're susceptible to the idea that there are secret cabals out to get them.

From Salon Jul. 17, 2023

The sequel’s plot hinges on a series of twists that successively reveal you to be a pawn in a power struggle among three competing cabals.

From New York Times Mar. 3, 2020

“As soon as they heard that, a lot of cabals here in Hollywood, that’s all they needed to hear. It’s like, ‘OK, she must be destroyed.’

From Washington Times Oct. 3, 2019

Men muttered in small cabals or threatened one another by the fireside, cutting each other with their eyes and hissing, vaunting superiority in their familiarity with the Unseen.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

A club of wits caballed and produced a collection of short poems sarcastically entitled “Certain Verses written by several of the Author’s Friends, to be reprinted in the Second Edition of ‘Gondibert,’” 1653.

From Calamities and Quarrels of Authors by Disraeli, Isaac

For this end alone they consulted, and caballed, and calculated, and junketed; and the Lecompton Constitution, with the Schedule annexed, was the worthy fruit of their labors.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 06, April, 1858 by Various

He laughed at the crises: he disdained this war of words, caballed against ministers, and treated passing events with levity.

From History of the Girondists, Volume I Personal Memoirs of the Patriots of the French Revolution by Ryde, H. T.

He was the Keeper of George III.'s conscience, until he caballed against Mr. Pitt, and was unceremoniously turned out by him.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 45, July, 1861 by Various

He caballed with the very men to whom he had hitherto been most vehemently opposed for the sole object of expelling Lord Shelburne from office.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Yonge, Charles Duke

Henry Kissinger happened to be visiting London at the time and witnessed the caballing against her.

From Newsweek Apr. 8, 2013

Princes, equerries, physicians, pages—all conferring, whispering, plotting, and caballing, how to induce the king to set off!

From The Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay — Volume 2 by Burney, Fanny

A man of real Merit cannot connect himself with those who are addicted to caballing; and yet such are the Persons, who frequently conduct others.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)

Eugene fancied it was White who was caballing against him, but he thought if Colfax was going to change, he was going to change, and there was no help for it.

From The "Genius" by Dreiser, Theodore

That their perpetual caballing with her factious subjects, against her authority, had forced her into such measures, as otherwise she would not have engaged in.

From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. — Volume 10 Historical Writings by Swift, Jonathan




Vocabulary lists containing cabal


Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training