cohort

[koh-hawrt]

noun

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.

cohort

/ 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

Word History and Origins

Origin of cohort¹

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; co-, com-

Word History and Origins

Origin of cohort¹

C15: from Latin cohors yard, company of soldiers; related to hortus garden

Example Sentences

"There is a risk that you create a large cohort of losers," he said.

From BBC

Sally Lambah, head of student support and wellbeing at Wrexham University, argues that social development skills of recent university cohorts were "stifled because they had to stay at home".

From BBC

There does seem to be a supportive cohort of disgruntled Labour MPs, particularly among the 130-strong group who rebelled over welfare reforms and forced Downing Street into a humiliating 11th-hour U-turn.

From BBC

Like others in her cohort, she did several stints in high-stakes kitchens and also grew up working at her family’s taquería.

From Los Angeles Times

This same cohort experienced a disproportionate percentage of military casualties during America’s post-9/11 forever wars in the Middle East and other parts of the world.

From Salon

Related Words

• companion 
• comrade 
• disciple 
• follower 

When To Use

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.