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The word claque might call to mind the sound of a clap, and that's no accident. Claque is a French borrowing that descends from the verb claquer, meaning "to clap," and the noun claque, meaning "a clap." Those French words in turn originated in imitation of the sound associated with them. English speakers borrowed claque in the 19th century. At that time, the practice of infiltrating audiences with hired members was very common to French theater culture. Claque members received money and free tickets to laugh, cry, shout-and of course clap-in just the right spots, hopefully influencing the rest of the audience to do the same.
Examples of claque in a Sentence
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 2 July 2024
Bring Your Own Applause: What Donald Trump and Roman Emperor Nero Have in Common
A claque is a centuries-old showmanship technique that has been used by entertainers and politicians since the Roman Empire.
—JSTOR Daily, 24 June 2024
If, in 1963, Patricia is the earnest naïf of the claque of housewives, Charlene is the wild card.
—Sam Sacks, WSJ, 10 Nov. 2023
Independent of a single benefactor or claque of them, interposing their own agendas.
—Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, 18 Nov. 2022
Seizing and freezing the Nazarbayev claque’s Western assets—their real estate and private jets, their high-end artwork and fleets of automobiles—would, at the very least, offer succor to protesters who’ve just put their lives on the line to protest the regime’s avarice.
—Casey Michel, The New Republic, 12 Jan. 2022
Yet the medicine, most commonly used as a dewormer for farm animals and household pets, has been taken up as a cause by a right-wing claque of anti-government and anti-vaccine activists.
—Los Angeles Times, 23 Nov. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Claque.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/claque. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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