shadow cabinet

noun

: a group of leaders of a parliamentary opposition who constitute the probable membership of the cabinet when their party is returned to power

Examples of shadow cabinet in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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As of last night, Politico said, 18 Labour MPs, including senior members of the Corbyn-era shadow cabinet John McDonnell and Diane Abbott, had signed an amendment to the King's Speech calling on the government to abolish the policy that would lift nearly half a million UK children out of poverty. The Week Uk, theweek, 23 July 2024 In Leicester South, a seat in an industrial city in the English Midlands, Labour shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat by 979 votes to Shockat Adam, an independent candidate who made his support for Gaza a key part of his electoral pledge to voters. Christian Edwards, CNN, 5 July 2024 In a surprise defeat, a member of Labour’s shadow cabinet, paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth, lost to an independent candidate in Leicester South, where a third of the population is Muslim. NBC News, 5 July 2024 After securing the leadership by being sufficiently left-leaning, Starmer systematically purged his party, including of Corbyn himself, while pushing for moderate parliamentary candidates and including middle-of-the-road voices for top jobs in his shadow cabinet. E.j. Dionne, Washington Post, 4 July 2024 See All Example Sentences for shadow cabinet

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of shadow cabinet was in 1906

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Cite this Entry

“Shadow cabinet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shadow%20cabinet. Accessed 5 Sep. 2025.

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