coalition

• coälition (rare)

Borrowed from Middle French coalition, from Medieval Latin coalitiō, coalitiōnem, from Latin coalitus.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəʊ.əˈlɪʃ.ən/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /koʊ.əˈlɪʃ.ən/
• Rhymes: -ɪʃən

coalition (countable and uncountable, plural coalitions)

1. A temporary group or union of organizations, usually formed for a particular advantage.

   The Liberal Democrats and Conservative parties formed a coalition government in 2010.

   • 2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2013:

     At a time when Mr. Cameron is being squeezed from both sides — from the right by members of his own party and by the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe U.K. Independence Party, and from the left by his Liberal Democrat coalition partners — the move seemed uncharacteristically clunky.

   • 2025 February 22, Sebastian Shukla, Nadine Schmidt and Claudia Otto, “Germany is holding a national election. Here’s what’s at stake”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     In a quirk of German politics, the governing coalitions are often given names. The previous coalition government, headed by the SPD (red), included the Green Party (green) and Liberal Party (yellow) - together they were known as the “traffic light” coalition.

2. (rare) The collective noun for a group of cheetahs.
   • 2013 August 7, Joshi Herrmann, “How cricket netted the hipsters”, in London Evening Standard:

     Sometimes the ante is upped, the gaggle of bowlers all working on their batsman in turn, like a coalition of cheetahs singling out a vulnerable gazelle, sending their distinctive balls down until the pressure forces a mistake or the batsman gets his own back by smashing a bad ball over everyone’s heads.

   • 2014 September 6, Darren Boyle, “Running wild! Mother cheetah has SIX cubs keeping her busy by jumping, hiding and climbing all over her”, in The Daily Mail:

     Majed Sultan Ali was on his second visit to the game reserve in a bid to photograph a coalition of cheetahs.

   • 2015 June 11, “This is the moment an ostrich attempts to outrun cheetahs in Sir David Attenborough's latest show”, in Bristol Post:

     This is the incredible moment a juvenile ostrich attempts to outrun a coalition of cheetahs that forms a central part of the latest BBC programme to be presented by Sir David Attenborough.

• coitional

• coälition (rare)

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin coalitiōnem, from Latin coalitus (“fellowship, communion”).

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.a.li.sjɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

coalition f (plural coalitions)

1. coalition

• gouvernement de coalition

• → Polish: koalicja
• → Romanian: coaliție
• → Turkish: koalisyon

• “coalition”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.