coterie

Borrowed from French coterie, from French cote, from Middle Dutch kot.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊtəɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊtəɹi/, /ˌkoʊtəˈɹi/, [ˈkoʊɾəɹi], [ˌkoʊɾəˈɹi]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

coterie (plural coteries)

1. A circle of people who associate with one another.

   The new junior employee joined our merry after-hours coterie.

2. An exclusive group of people, who associate closely for a common purpose; a clique.

   A tightly-knit coterie of executive powerbrokers made all the real decisions in the company.

   • 2016 March 3, David Thomson, “Biggest lesson of the 2016 Oscars? The Academy should be scrapped”, in The Guardian‎:

     So the thought of closing the Academy is not based in malice; the action might prove enlightening and refreshing. The old club coterie has very little excuse, and its loss would leave few casualties.

3. A communal burrow of prairie dogs.

   The coterie was located in the middle of our wheat field.

   • 2000, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, page 473:

     The population of each coterie constantly changes over a period of a few months or years, by death, birth, and emigration. But the coterie boundary remains about the same, being learned by each prairie dog born into it.

   • 2001, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Emperor's Embrace: The Evolution of Fatherhood:

     The odd part of prairie dog life is that this friendly state exists only among the members of each coterie, and does not extend between coteries.

   • 2009, Miriam Aronin, The Prairie Dog's Town: A Perfect Hideaway, page 22:

     Young prairie dogs in a coterie are brothers and sisters. They have the same father and sometimes the same mother. To find a mate from a different family, young prairie dogs must travel to a new area.

• “coterie” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.

Borrowed from French coterie.

• IPA^(key): /ˌkoː.təˈri/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: co‧te‧rie
• Rhymes: -i

coterie f (plural coteries or coterieën, diminutive coterietje n)

1. coterie, clique (exclusive circle of associates)

• kot

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.tʁi/
• Rhymes: -i

coterie f (plural coteries)

1. coterie, clique

• “coterie” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).