as in Mafias
a group involved in secret or criminal activities
a conspiracy theory about the existence of an international cabal devoted to world domination
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cabals
Literary Hub, 10 Dec. 2025
With a story of secret cabals and a child born to rule, Dumont projects the nasty prejudices and bureaucratic rigors of local politics, the tangles of family allegiances, and the tender grunge of young lust into divine and diabolical clashes run from celestial and subterranean castles.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2025
Noun
Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel, Shadow Ticket, set in 1932 Milwaukee, takes place in a landscape of industrial ghosts, strike-breakers, fascist sympathizers and absurdist cabals.
—Literary Hub, 10 Dec. 2025
With a story of secret cabals and a child born to rule, Dumont projects the nasty prejudices and bureaucratic rigors of local politics, the tangles of family allegiances, and the tender grunge of young lust into divine and diabolical clashes run from celestial and subterranean castles.
—Justin Chang, New Yorker, 5 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cabals
Noun
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He was known as a pugnacious investigator who had dismantled some of the country’s most violent gangs.—
Heidi Blake,
New Yorker,
8 June 2026
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It was originally used by gangs to try to avoid police detection, but has since become rooted in their national identity, AFP has reported.—
Tom Burrows,
New York Times,
5 June 2026
Verb
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The ash people’s perspective allies them with the group looking to strip-mine Pandora’s resources.—
David Sims,
The Atlantic,
19 Dec. 2025
Noun
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Eight people were indicted for allegedly being involved in conspiracies to threaten university leaders, law enforcement officials and businesses.—
Elaine Rojas-Castillo,
CBS News,
13 June 2026
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The film references popular alien conspiracies such as Roswell and Nixon-Gleason, suggesting that there is perhaps some truth to them.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
13 June 2026
Verb
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That advantage was in large part offset by payments from UEFA’s ‘value pillar’, a mechanism which awards clubs money based upon their coefficient ranking (determined by past performance in European competition) and the size of their nation’s broadcast rights deal for the competition.—
Chris Weatherspoon,
New York Times,
30 May 2026
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Their top-30 visits, where NFL clubs host prospects at their facilities to gather further intel, are often smokescreens.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
19 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Alongside that, South Africa’s police force has been embroiled in scandal, accused of corruption and collusion with criminal syndicates.—
Michelle Gumede,
Los Angeles Times,
13 June 2026
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Applying terrorism designations to criminal syndicates, Brazilian officials say, conflicts with domestic legal definitions and risks blurring distinctions underpinning international counterterrorism law.—
Antonio María Delgado,
Miami Herald,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Union regularly collaborates with stylist Thomas Christos Kikis, who also counts Rachel McAdams and Sophia Richie Grainge among his high-profile clientele.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
12 June 2026
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The next time your computer powers up instantly, your paycheck arrives electronically, your team collaborates across time zones or your work helps another person solve a problem, pause for a moment.—
ByBryan Robinson,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Noun
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Across movie studios, television networks and content production firms, AI creators CNBC spoke to mentioned using a wide variety of generative AI tools, with Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Kling, MiniMax, Seedance and Google’s AI Studio being frequently mentioned.—
Priyanka Salve,
CNBC,
11 June 2026
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The panel’s antitrust subcommittee considered whether the professional football league overstretched its antitrust exemption under the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 by pooling the television rights for all 32 teams into a package that is then sold to various cable networks and streaming services.—
David Zimmermann,
The Washington Examiner,
10 June 2026
Noun
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The event consists of live music, competition events such as highland dancing and sheepdog trials, food vendors and educational classes on what Scottish clans are.—
Carlos Rico,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
8 June 2026
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Publishers Coolabi Group and Chinese online giant Tencent Video have greenlit the series, adapted from Erin Hunter’s novels about battling clans of feral cats, which have sold more than 90 million copies worldwide.—
Scott Roxborough,
HollywoodReporter,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cabals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cabals. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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