cohort

American  

[koh-hawrt] / ˈkoʊ hɔrt /

noun

• cohorts
  plural

1. a group or company.

   She has a cohort of admirers.

2. a companion or associate.

   Synonyms:

   buddy, pal, chum, fellow, comrade, friend

3. one of the ten divisions in an ancient Roman legion, numbering from 300 to 600 soldiers.

4. any group of soldiers or warriors.

5. an accomplice; abettor.

   He got off with probation, but his cohorts got ten years apiece.

6. a group of persons sharing a particular statistical or demographic characteristic.

   the cohort of all children born in 1980.

7. Biology. an individual in a population of the same species.

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cohort British  

/ ˈkəʊhɔːt /

noun

1. one of the ten units of between 300 and 600 men in an ancient Roman Legion

2. any band of warriors or associates

   the cohorts of Satan

3. an associate or follower

4. biology a taxonomic group that is a subdivision of a subclass (usually of mammals) or subfamily (of plants)

5. statistics a group of people with a statistic in common, esp having been born in the same year

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Usage

What does cohort mean? A cohort is a group of people, as in The senator is traveling with a large cohort. It can also refer to an associate or companion, as in I’m meeting up with some of my cohorts from my days as a salesperson. Sometimes, cohort refers to an accomplice in crime or some other underhanded activity, as in The supervillain and his cohorts have robbed yet another bank. When referring to a group, cohort can also be used in a more specific way to mean a group of people who share a common characteristic, come from the same demographic, or have been sorted into the same category. In statistical studies, it’s especially used to refer to people born in the same year or range of years, as in This study focuses on the cohort of people born between 1980 and 1985. In education, cohort is used to refer to a group of students, such as one consisting of students who started in the same year, or one of the multiple smaller groups that a class has been divided into. In biology, cohort is used to refer to an individual animal or organism in a population of the same species.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cohorts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cohort

First recorded in 1475–85; from Middle French cohorte, from Latin cohort- (stem of cohors ) “farmyard, armed force (originally, from a particular place or camp), cohort, retinue,” equivalent to co- “with, together” + hort- (akin to hortus “garden”); replacing late Middle English cohors, from Latin; see co-, com-

Explanation

A cohort is a group of people who are around the same age, like a cohort of college students who have similar experiences and concerns. The word cohort was originally used to describe a military unit in ancient Rome. You can see how this retains traces of the word’s origins: cohorts are bound together by similar circumstances just like a group of soldiers in a military unit. Some language purists insist that the word only describe a group, such as a cohort of accountants, but it can also refer to companions or supporters, such as “Susie and her cohorts.”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cohort cohorts

The largest cohort of attendees is now people in their 30s, followed by people in their 40s.

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026

But he is troubled by studies showing that around half of users can't tell at a glance whether content is real -- a cohort that will grow "as generative AI tools advance."

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

She’s passionate about feral cats because there are too many in Los Angeles and hopes one day every neighborhood could have a cohort of volunteer cat rescuers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

So, to gauge how the job market has shifted for each cohort, Levanon compared current unemployment rates for the different groups with their own range of unemployment rates since 2003.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

By fall, we had a cohort of twenty-seven Allies working all over Chicago, holding internships everywhere from city hall to a South Side community assistance agency to Latino Youth, an alternative high school in Pilsen.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

At the same time, growth by the top 5% of earners slipped slightly after a long run-up, narrowing the gap between income cohorts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

“These developments don’t necessarily mark the end of a bull market in these cohorts, but these areas typically don’t spring back right away either,” he warns.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 8, 2026

Johnson also checks in with all her cohorts every three months after they complete the program to offer additional guidance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

In a large study of three US cohorts, daily multivitamin use was not associated with a lower risk of death.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 6, 2026

The first four cohorts, each forty kids strong, stood in rows in front of their barracks on either side of the Via Praetoria.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• companion
• comrade
• disciple
• follower