co-optation

noun

co-op·​ta·​tion ˌkō-ˌäp-ˈtä-shən How to pronounce co-optation (audio)
: the act or an instance of co-opting something : a taking over or appropriation of something for a new or different purpose
The co-optation of the raised fist as a patriotic symbol …Niela Orr
Wolfe's shrewd co-optation of hip style in service of a meat-and-potatoes cultural agenda won countless admirers, who hailed him as a brilliant satirist with a voice extravagant as America itself.Rand Richards Cooper

Examples of co-optation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Don’t be afraid to call out instances of AI co-optation. Janice Gassam Asare, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025 Critics also point to the corporate co-optation of Earth Day. Monica Sanders, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2025 The epilogue, set at a Venice Biennale in the eighties, then switches to a touristy video format that drives home a point about the kitschy co-optation of art. Namwali Serpell, The New Yorker, 8 Mar. 2025 India has used a mix of improvisation, co-optation, and coercion to control the northeast, often betraying its own constitutional values in the process. Foreign Affairs, 25 Feb. 2025 The potential for co-optation is clearest in the business sector. Steven Levitsky, Foreign Affairs, 11 Feb. 2025 Besides providing a more accurate picture of human behavior, paying more attention to variation can serve as an antidote to the nefarious co-optation of knowledge that feeds the online underbelly of Internet pseudoscience. Brooke Scelza, Scientific American, 19 Sep. 2024 Eventually, Putin headed off the nationalist threat through a mix of repression and co-optation. Jade McGlynn, Foreign Affairs, 17 Aug. 2023 When possible, the Rouhani team appears to prefer co-optation to overcome opposition from interest groups tied to hardliners such as those in the IRGC. Alex Vatanka, Foreign Affairs, 17 Oct. 2016

Word History

First Known Use

1966, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of co-optation was in 1966

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Cite this Entry

“Co-optation.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/co-optation. Accessed 15 Jul. 2025.

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