claque
Americannoun
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claques
plural
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a group of persons hired to applaud an act or performer.
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a group of sycophants.
The agency head was applauded, as always, by a claque of appointees.
noun
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a group of people hired to applaud
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a group of fawning admirers
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of claque
First recorded in 1860–65; from French, derivative of claquer “to clap”
Vocabulary lists containing claque
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:
Beginning as a feud between culturally ambitious game critics and a claque of revanchist fans, Gamergate became a free-floating snowball of grievance.
From The Verge ● Dec. 12, 2019
Bellini’s “Norma” opened to boos, some probably from a claque that supported a rival composer.
From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2018
There’s a claque alongside to cheer the big boss and deride his doubters.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 13, 2017
He enrolled at the Kunstakademie, an avant-garde hotbed soon dominated by Joseph Beuys, the shamanistic godfather of conceptualism—although Richter was always highly skeptical of the hero-worshipping claque Beuys gathered around himself.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2016
Then he proceeded to mimic the way I spoke, giving me what he perceived to be a Gcaleka accent, at which his own claque laughed heartily.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
In French theatre, groups of professional clappers, known as "claques", were hired by performers to make them appear more popular with audiences.
From BBC ● May 28, 2015
At a time when claques are disappearing from many of the world's opera houses, the La Scala group is one of the best in the house's long history.
From Time Magazine Archive
Although claques are still common in Italian opera houses, none in years have been organized with the same flair and genius for detail.
From Time Magazine Archive
In metropolitan theatres loud-lunged claques greeted the appearance of Fleischer cartoons with resounding boos.
From Time Magazine Archive
The discrepancy was sometimes explicable by claques, which are almost as discreditable to managements as the keeping of tame critics, who eat food out of their hand.
From Without Prejudice by Israel Zangwill
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