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A wise man named Huey Lewis once sang that “it’s hip to be square.” As lexicographers—a hip cadre if ever there was one—we heartily agree with this sentiment, not least because the song (as performed by Lewis and his trusted cadre of bandmates dubbed “the News”) prompts us to ponder an etymological descendent (via French and Italian) of the Latin word for square, quadrum: cadre. Squares being a logical and standard shape for frames (as of window and picture varieties), it’s easy to understand why French speakers and later English speakers adopted cadre as a word meaning “frame.” A sense of cadre referring to a metaphorical framework for something (such as a novel or curriculum) soon developed. And if you consider a group of officers in a military regiment as the framework that holds things together for the unit, you’ll understand how yet another sense of cadre, referring to a nucleus of trained personnel, arose. Military leaders and their troops are well-trained and work together as a unified team, which may explain why cadre is now sometimes used more generally to refer to any group of people who have some kind of unifying characteristic—such as a belief in the heart of rock and roll, or perhaps the power of love.
Examples of cadre in a Sentence
Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2026
The team has a massive cadre of high-profile celebrities cheering them on to win the franchise's first Finals in over half a century.
—Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 4 June 2026
Singer Vehicle Design has a cadre of devotees that continues to grow, and for good reason.
—Viju Mathew, Robb Report, 1 June 2026
The bill will create a small cadre (as few as 100) of corporate interior designers that would control the market.
—Doug McCauley, Oc Register, 27 May 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Cadre.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cadre. Accessed 8 Jun. 2026.
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