cabal

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The Word of the Day for January 24 is:=20

cabal   \kuh-BAHL\   noun
         *1 : the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly=
 united in a plot (as to overturn a government); also : a group engaged =
in such artifices and intrigues
     2 : club, group

Example sentence:
          The journalist uncovered evidence that a cabal of power broker=
s was plotting to overthrow the government.

Did you know?
          In _A Child's History of England_, Charles Dickens associates =
the word "cabal" with a group of five ministers in the government of Eng=
land's King Charles II. The initial letters of the names or titles of th=
ose men (Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale) spelle=
d "cabal," and Dickens dubbed them the "Cabal Ministry." These five men =
were widely regarded as invidious, secretive plotters and their activiti=
es may have encouraged English speakers to associate "cabal" with high-l=
evel government intrigue. But their names are not the source of the word=
 "cabal," which was in use decades before Charles II ascended the throne=
. The term can be traced back through French to "cabbala," the Medieval =
Latin name for the Kabbalah, a traditional system of esoteric Jewish mys=
ticism.





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