cadre

American  

[ka-drey, kah-drey] / ˈkæ dreɪ, ˈkɑ dreɪ /

noun

cadres plural

1. Military. the key group of officers and enlisted personnel necessary to establish and train a new military unit.

2. a group of trained or otherwise qualified personnel capable of forming, training, or leading an expanded organization, as a religious or political faction, or a skilled workforce.

   They hoped to form a cadre of veteran party members.

3. (especially in Communist countries) a cell of trained and devoted workers.

4. a member of a cadre; a person qualified to serve in a cadre.

5. a framework, outline, or scheme.

---

cadre British  

/ ˈkɑːdə /

noun

1. the nucleus of trained professional servicemen forming the basis for the training of new units or other military expansion

2. a basic unit or structure, esp of specialists or experts; nucleus; core

3. a group of revolutionaries or other political activists, esp when taking part in military or terrorist activities

4. a member of a cadre

---

cadre Cultural  

1. An elite or select group that forms the core of an organization and is capable of training new members.

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cadres
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cadre

First recorded in 1905–10; from French: “frame, border, bounds, cadre” (metaphorically, the cadre being the framework into which temporary personnel are fit), from Italian quadro, from Latin quadrum “square”; see quadri-

Explanation

A cadre is a group of specially trained people prepared to lead or instruct others. Examples could be a military unit, a group of scientists, or a band of insurgents. Just looking at the "re" at the end of cadre suggests the word has some French roots, and so it does. The word, stemming from the Latin quadrum, meaning "a square," also meant "framework." This idea of a frame or border came to suggest the word as meaning a small group that creates the framework for a larger one, much like a picture frame. Your cadre of rebels consists of two cats and a stuffed bear...at least they'll be good at keeping secrets.

Example Sentences

The book wasn’t written so much as it was built by a prominent ghostwriter, a cadre of well-placed friends and colleagues, and a publishing industry that’s made billions of dollars from trauma memoirs by women.

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2026

Lithogow is among a cadre of accomplished film and television actors who have a deep love of the stage.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026

They impacted the lives of more than 100 million people through trade unions, peasant organisations, student wings and disciplined cadre networks.

From BBC • May 26, 2026

Investors want to see how Constellation plans to profit off its recent acquisition of Calpine, another power producer that owns a large cadre of natural gas plants.

From Barron's • Mar. 30, 2026

Put bluntly, the greed of North Korea’s cash-hungry cadre seemed to enable Shin’s trek.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

Related Words

• organization
• personnel
• staff