coalition
Pluralcoalitions
- 1A temporary alliance of organizations or parties, usually formed to gain a particular advantage.
After the election, three parties negotiated a coalition to form a government.
Local environmental groups built a coalition to push for cleaner rivers across the region.
Similaralliance, bloc, union, partnership, league
Note
In politics the word often works as a modifier: a coalition government, coalition partners, the governing coalition. German politics goes a step further and names its coalitions after party colors. A government of the SPD (red), the Greens (green) and the Liberals (yellow) took its nickname from the traffic light. The word can be counted (a coalition, two coalitions) or used as an uncountable noun.
- 2A group of cheetahs that live and travel together as a single unit.
A coalition of five cheetahs crossed the savanna at dusk.
Majed Sultan Ali was on his second visit to the game reserve in a bid to photograph a coalition of cheetahs.
2014, Darren Boyle, “Running wild! Mother cheetah has SIX cubs keeping her busy by jumping, hiding and climbing all over her”Note
A rare collective noun that usually travels with its animal, spelled out in full as "a coalition of cheetahs" so no one pictures political parties. It turns up mostly in wildlife reporting, such as a photographer on a game reserve or an ostrich outrunning cheetahs in a David Attenborough program. It also works as a metaphor. The London Evening Standard in 2013 likened bowlers working over a batsman to cheetahs singling out a gazelle.
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Origin
Borrowed from Middle French coalition, which came from Medieval Latin coalitiō (accusative coalitiōnem), ultimately from Latin coalitus.