caucus
Americannoun
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caucuses
plural
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U.S. Politics.
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a local meeting of party members to select candidates, elect convention delegates, etc.
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a meeting of party members within a legislative body to select leaders and determine strategy.
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Often Caucus a faction within a legislative body that pursues its interests through the legislative process.
the Women's Caucus; the Black Caucus.
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any group or meeting organized to further a special interest or cause.
verb (used without object)
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caucuses,
present (3rd person singular)
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caucused,
past participle, past
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caucusing
present participle
verb (used with object)
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caucuses,
present (3rd person singular)
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caucused,
past participle, past
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caucusing
present participle
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to bring up or hold for discussion in a caucus.
The subject was caucused.
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to bring together or poll in a caucus.
The paper caucused its new editorial board on Friday.
The chairman caucused the water pollution committee before making recommendations.
noun
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a closed meeting of the members of one party in a legislative chamber, etc, to coordinate policy, choose candidates, etc
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such a bloc of politicians
the Democratic caucus in Congress
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-
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a group of leading politicians of one party
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a meeting of such a group
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a local meeting of party members
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a group or faction within a larger group, esp a political party, who discuss tactics, choose candidates, etc
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a group of MPs from one party who meet to discuss tactics, etc
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a formal meeting of all Members of Parliament belonging to one political party
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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caucussimple
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caucusessimple
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have caucusedperfect
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has caucusedperfect
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am caucusingprogressive
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are caucusingprogressive
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is caucusingprogressive
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have been caucusingperfect progressive
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has been caucusingperfect progressive
Past
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caucusedsimple
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had caucusedperfect
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was caucusingprogressive
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were caucusingprogressive
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had been caucusingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of caucus
An Americanism dating back to 1755–65; apparently first used in the name of the Caucus Club of colonial Boston; further origin uncertain; perhaps from Medieval Latin caucus “drinking vessel,” Late Latin caucum, from Greek kaûkos; perhaps from Virginia Algonquian Cawcawwassough “elders of the Chickahominy people”
Explanation
The noun caucus is a closed meeting of members from the same political party. The Iowa caucuses get a lot of attention during the presidential primary season. Who knows how we got the noun caucus? One theory is that it comes from an Algonquin word that means an elder or leader of the tribe. Another theory is that the word comes from a social and political club in Boston in the 1700s that was perhaps named for the Greek word for drinking cup. However the word slipped into American English, today it refers to a closed political meeting, often used to choose party leaders.
Vocabulary lists containing caucus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But Darializa Avila Chevalier unseated another incumbent, the head of the congressional Hispanic caucus, Adriano Espaillat.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
“It’s not always a purity test there,” one observer said of the caucus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
"I have the full support of our caucus... Our caucus is united, and it is determined to win this election," he told reporters after the meeting which lasted more than three hours.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
“A caucus they could pull off; if they want to be as open and inclusive as possible, that’s probably their best option.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
More than half of the attendees had never participated in a caucus before, and that group likely helped secure Barack’s victory.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
After leaving professional campaign consulting in the mid-1990s, and making a substantial fortune in real estate, Reilly gave prolifically to various charities and assorted civic caucuses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
There’s a saying in Iowa, around its presidential caucuses.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2026
But that overlooks the degree to which Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune kept their caucuses together for a few important bits of action.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
They were joined by Maine's Angus King, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, who also voted to reopen the government.
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2025
After the Iowa caucuses, I’d decided to take a leave of absence from my position at the hospital, knowing that it would be impossible, really, to stay on and be effective.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
When she was a senator, she caucused with the conservative National Action Party, which had earlier pushed the energy sector reforms that forced a greater opening to the private sector.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 29, 2024
Jones, who works part-time at a hospital, said she has never caucused before.
From Reuters ● Oct. 27, 2023
As he took his place on the stand, lawyers caucused briefly over how to address the witness, who also goes by the title Duke of Sussex.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
The price point for a deal remains around $50 million a season, according to those I have caucused, and Jackson almost certainly will seek record guarantees.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 23, 2022
We caucused among ourselves and lobbied all the residents of the house, and within weeks elected our own House Committee, defeating the upperclassmen.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
But he would not be caucusing for Mr. Hutchinson: “I’m a Democrat.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
Monday, when people will be lining up to check-in before caucusing starts at 7 p.m., temperatures are expected to be minus 1 to minus 5 degrees, depending on what part of the state you're in.
From Salon ● Jan. 11, 2024
Former delegate Lacey Putney, a Bedford Democrat turned independent who ended his career caucusing with Republicans, still holds the record as the state’s longest-serving legislator, serving 52 years, from 1962 to 2014.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 23, 2023
Ryan Clancy and Darrin Madison plan to hold their own meetings to advance their policy goals while also caucusing with Assembly Democrats.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2023
This occasioned great excitement, much caucusing and threatening on the part of the Southern members, but nothing else.
From Abraham Lincoln: a History — Volume 01 by John George Nicolay
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
