coup

[ koo ]

SEE DEFINITION OF coup

nounachievement, often by maneuver

Synonyms for coup

MOST RELEVANT

Antonyms for coup

failure

MOST RELEVANT

EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR COUP

He preferred to wait and see what coup it was she was now preparing.

He was taken prisoner by the insurgents at the time of the Coup d'Etat.

He sat down at the table and began a warm panegyric on the Coup d'Etat.

Eugene briefly announced the complete success of the Coup d'Etat.

You had just planned a coup on the Stock Exchange which promised you immense rewards.

She went back to the time when Leslie had told her of his “coup.”

Let this man show himself, and the success of his coup was assured.

There they are probably saying that she has got a ‘coup de coeur’ for some one.

It was strictly a coup de main, depending for its success on chance and nerve.

He had bowed his head and waited sullenly for the coup de grace.

WORD ORIGIN

c.1400, from Old French coup, colp "a blow, strike" (12c.), from Medieval Latin colpus, from Vulgar Latin colapus, from Latin colaphus "a cuff, box on the ear," from Greek kolaphos "a blow, slap." Meaning "a sudden decisive act" is 1852, short for coup d'etat. In Modern French the word is a workhorse, describing everything from a pat on the back to a whipping, and is used as well of thunder, gusts of wind, gunshots, and chess moves.