co-opted; co-opting; co-opts
1
a
: to choose or elect as a member
members co-opted to the committee
b
: to appoint as a colleague or assistant
2
a
: to take into a group (such as a faction, movement, or culture) : absorb, assimilate
The students are co-opted by a system they serve even in their struggle against it.—
A. C. Danto
A. C. Danto
b
: take over, appropriate
a style co-opted by advertisers
Examples of co-opt in a Sentence
the national organization co-opted many formerly independent local groups
Recent Examples on the Web
The investigators initially had remarkable success, co-opting a midlevel campaign operative to act as a DEA mole inside López Obrador’s political team.
—Tim Golden, ProPublica, 19 July 2024
The online attacks are similar to those leveled against the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CDC in insinuating that they have been co-opted by dangerous elites and can no longer be trusted.
—Julia Ingram, CBS News, 15 July 2024
Migration to social media indicates a failure on the part of the journalism industry to reclaim the connection with readers that's been co-opted by social media, says Rawiya Kameir, an assistant professor of journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.
—Elana Klein, WIRED, 12 July 2024
The current body positivity movement has been co-opted and commodified by privileged smaller bodies, who have implemented their own beauty standards and have excluded the very marginalised bodies that created it in the first place.
—Stephanie Yeboah, refinery29.com, 12 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for co-opt 
Tim Golden, ProPublica, 19 July 2024
The online attacks are similar to those leveled against the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CDC in insinuating that they have been co-opted by dangerous elites and can no longer be trusted.
—Julia Ingram, CBS News, 15 July 2024
Migration to social media indicates a failure on the part of the journalism industry to reclaim the connection with readers that's been co-opted by social media, says Rawiya Kameir, an assistant professor of journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.
—Elana Klein, WIRED, 12 July 2024
The current body positivity movement has been co-opted and commodified by privileged smaller bodies, who have implemented their own beauty standards and have excluded the very marginalised bodies that created it in the first place.
—Stephanie Yeboah, refinery29.com, 12 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for co-opt
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'co-opt.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near co-opt
Cite this Entry
“Co-opt.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/co-opt. Accessed 27 Jul. 2024.
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