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• cabal
  cabal

  noun

  a small group of secret plotters, as against a government or person in authority.
• Cabal
  Cabal

  noun

  English history a group of ministers of Charles II that governed from 1667–73: consisting of Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale

cabal

American  

[kuh-bal, kuh-bawl] / kəˈbæl, kəˈbɔl /

noun

• cabals
  plural

1. a small group of secret plotters, as against a government or person in authority.

   Synonyms:

   ring, league, band, faction, junta

2. the plots and schemes of such a group; intrigue.

3. a clique, as in artistic, literary, or theatrical circles.

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verb (used without object)

• cabals,
  present (3rd person singular)
• caballed,
  past participle,  past participle,  past (especially British)
• cabaled,
  past
• caballing
  present participle,  present participle (especially British)

1. to form a cabal; intrigue; conspire; plot.

cabal ¹ British  

/ kəˈbæl /

noun

1. a small group of intriguers, esp one formed for political purposes

2. a secret plot, esp a political one; conspiracy; intrigue

3. a secret or exclusive set of people; clique

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verb

1. to form a cabal; conspire; plot

Cabal ² British  

/ kəˈbæl /

noun

1. English history a group of ministers of Charles II that governed from 1667–73: consisting of Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale

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Synonym Usage

See conspiracy.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• caballer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cabals
  plural

Participles

• caballing
  present
• caballed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cabal
  simple
• cabals
  simple
• have caballed
  perfect
• has caballed
  perfect
• am caballing
  progressive
• are caballing
  progressive
• is caballing
  progressive
• have been caballing
  perfect progressive
• has been caballing
  perfect progressive

Past

• cabaled
  simple
• caballed
  simple
• had caballed
  perfect
• was caballing
  progressive
• were caballing
  progressive
• had been caballing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cabal
  simple
• will have caballed
  perfect
• will be caballing
  progressive
• will have been caballing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cabal

First recorded in 1610–20, for an earlier sense; earlier cabbal, from Medieval Latin cabbala; see kabbalah

Explanation

A cabal is a secret plot, or a small group of people who create such a plot. Some conspiracy theories are based on the idea that governments worldwide are in the hands of a powerful cabal. Cabal comes from the word cabbala (also spelled kabbala), which refers to a Jewish tradition of interpreting texts. Cabbala is often regarded as a secret and mystical practice and, as such, the word took on the additional meaning of “secret behavior.” Cabal comes from this sense of the word. A well-known cabal in 17th-century England was coincidentally made up of five members whose names’ initial letters spelled the word cabal. (Their names were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale.)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cabal Cabal cabals caballed caballing

Social media, however, and its cabal of influencers operate along many of the same lines as their reality TV forebears.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026

Conspiracy theories surfaced online that the whale had been deliberately driven into the Baltic Sea and all had been staged by a cabal of scientists, authorities and environmental organisations.

From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026

This is evidently what the investment cabal has done.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 16, 2026

It was the inner circle, a cabal I’d tried to disband for more than a decade.

From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2026

Once we passed a cabal of figures in black cloaks and tricornes carrying torches and whispering together.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

However, Lang made it 2-2 just after half-time and Davinson Sanchez put Galatasaray back in the lead before Juventus had Juan Cabal sent off.

From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026

Edmond Mulet is a former Guatemalan diplomat and president of Congress, who competed in the first round of the election as the presidential candidate for the Cabal party.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 20, 2023

The reform risks hurting job creation, Jaime Alberto Cabal, president of merchants association Fenalco, told journalists earlier on Thursday.

From Reuters ● Mar. 17, 2023

LAGOS, Nigeria — The staff at Big Cabal, a media start-up, wanted to ditch its diesel generator, but needed something to keep the office air-conditioners running.

From New York Times ● Nov. 9, 2021

As one of the Cabal ministry, therefore, he co-operated very zealously with the king in breaking through the Triple Alliance and in effecting the understanding with France.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various

That Epstein’s crimes were confined to himself and a few enablers, chiefly Ghislaine Maxwell, was intolerable to influencers and politicos determined to attribute all bad things to the dark workings of cabals.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

So rather than accepting that the world is a complicated place nobody can control, they're susceptible to the idea that there are secret cabals out to get them.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2023

These stories offered agency: Evil cabals could be defeated.

From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2021

“As soon as they heard that, a lot of cabals here in Hollywood, that’s all they needed to hear. It’s like, ‘OK, she must be destroyed.’

From Washington Times ● Oct. 3, 2019

Men muttered in small cabals or threatened one another by the fireside, cutting each other with their eyes and hissing, vaunting superiority in their familiarity with the Unseen.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

The three last-named persons often held little conspiracies together, and caballed or grumbled against the head of the house.

From The Virginians by William Makepeace Thackeray

For this end alone they consulted, and caballed, and calculated, and junketed; and the Lecompton Constitution, with the Schedule annexed, was the worthy fruit of their labors.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 01, No. 06, April, 1858 by Various

Europe was fluttered, secret service money was poured out like water, diplomatists caballed and scribbled despatches, all for very little. 

From Pickle the Spy; Or, the Incognito of Prince Charles by Andrew Lang

He caballed with the very men to whom he had hitherto been most vehemently opposed for the sole object of expelling Lord Shelburne from office.

From The Constitutional History of England from 1760 to 1860 by Charles Duke Yonge

He was the Keeper of George III.'s conscience, until he caballed against Mr. Pitt, and was unceremoniously turned out by him.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 45, July, 1861 by Various

Henry Kissinger happened to be visiting London at the time and witnessed the caballing against her.

From Newsweek ● Apr. 8, 2013

A man of real Merit cannot connect himself with those who are addicted to caballing; and yet such are the Persons, who frequently conduct others.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot

Still busily seeking, I suppose, to be a pick-thanks with those in power by casting ridicule on those they are caballing to destroy.”

From Janice Meredith by Paul Leicester Ford

Some of the canons who had made themselves notorious for quarrelling and caballing were to be debarred from promotion, and were commended to the Prior and Subprior for punishment.

From Yorkshire—Coast and Moorland Scenes by Gordon Home

Some months of caballing with our friends—even our Hielan' friends—in the France, left me with an unwholesome heart that would almost doubt my father in his grave.

From Doom Castle by Neil Munro