coterie
Americannoun
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a group of people who associate closely.
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an exclusive group; clique.
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a group of prairie dogs occupying a communal burrow.
noun
Related Words
See circle.
Etymology
Origin of coterie
First recorded in 1730–40; from French, Middle French: “an association of tenant farmers,” from Medieval Latin coter(ius) cotter 2 + -ie -y 3
Explanation
Have you noticed how so many of the best TV shows concentrate on a group of friends who seem to mesh together perfectly, to the exclusion of all others? This, then, is a coterie, an exclusive group with common interests. The modern spelling and meaning of coterie developed in the 18th century from a French word rooted in the feudal system. When the farmers working the land of a feudal lord established an organization, they were called cotiers, or "tenants of a cote" (think "cottage"), and that idea of a select group led to the word coterie. There's just something so French about the idea of exclusivity, isn't there?
Vocabulary lists containing coterie
In Cold Blood
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The Fault in Our Stars
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Anna Karenina
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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.
But in the coterie world of theater connoisseurs, Mays has earned a place among acting immortals.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 18, 2026
MetaX Integrated Circuits, the Chinese AI chipmaker and part of a coterie of fast-growing tech stocks known as the “Little Dragons,” enjoyed a wildly successful launch on the Shanghai exchange Wednesday.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 17, 2025
This summer, SpaceX hit $400 billion in a private secondary share offering where many of Musk’s loyal coterie of friends and early investors participated.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 2025
During Newby’s tenure as chief justice, a cartoon has hung in the Supreme Court depicting him as Superman, surrounded by a coterie of conservative appellate justices caricatured as other members of DC Comics’ Justice League.
From Salon • Oct. 31, 2025
Sleep fights cancer, Regular Dr. Jim said for the thousandth time as he hovered over me one morning surrounded by a coterie of medical students.
From "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green
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.
