coup means A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act. It carries an Arena rating of 1558, earned across 7 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, coup ranks #26 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #568 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #881 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,491 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
coup is pronounced /kuː/.
Why “coup” is a great word
A sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power from a government. From modern French coup ("blow, strike"), from Old French colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus ("a blow with the fist, a cuff"). Unlike a "revolution," which implies a broad, popular uprising and fundamental societal change, or a "putsch," which connotes a rushed and bungled attempt by a small faction, a coup is a precise, internal strike—cold, clinical, executed from within. It is the radio station seized at dawn, the key ministerial offices occupied before sunrise, the bewildered populace reading the proclamation over breakfast—the moment power shifts not with a roar, but with a whisper wrapped in the fist.
Etymology
Reborrowed in modern times from modern French coup (“blow, strike”), from Old French coup, colp, from Late Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus. Doublet of cope and colpus. The same Old French word had been borrowed into Middle English as coupe, caupe (with different pronunciation).
noun
- A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.e.g.“The conference was a major coup for Robarts, who received congratulations for his 'expert handling' of the 'risky venture.'” — 2000, P. E. Bryden, “The Ontario-Quebec Axis: Postwar Strategies in Intergovernmental Negotiations”, in Edgar-André Montigny, Anne Lorene Chambers, editors, Ontario Since Confederation: A Reader, page
- Of Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery.e.g.“Among the Blackfeet the capture of a shield, bow, gun, war bonnet, war shirt, or medicine pipe was deemed a coup.” — 1892, George Bird Grinnell, “The Blackfoot in War”, in Blackfoot Lodge Tales: The Story of a Prairie People, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 248:
- A coup d'état.
- A takeover of one group by another.
- A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.e.g.“After seven coups he had won six times. He lost on the seventh when thirty came up.” — 1953, Ian Fleming, “Rouge et Noir”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 50:
- One of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks, such as the Bath coup.
verb
- To execute a coup.e.g.“The squaws of another race will sing the death-song of their benefactor, and woe to the Sioux if the Northern Cheyennes get a chance to coup !” — 1895, Frederic Remington, “Lieutenant Casey’s Last Scout”, in Pony Tracks, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 48:
- To subject (a nation) to a coup d'état.e.g.“We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it.” — 2020 June 24, Elon Musk, Twitter (tweet), deleted; screenshot and quoted in Alan MacLeod, “United Tesla Company: Widespread Condemnation of Elon Musk's Bolivia Coup Comments”, in MintPress News, 27 Ju
- To empty out, overturn, or tilt, such as from a cart or wheelbarrow.
- To exchange, barter.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- coupmaking 76% match — The execution of a political coup. vs coup →
- coupist 73% match — One who takes part in a coup d'état. vs coup →
- coupism 67% match — The advocacy or favoring of a coup d'état within a government or the enforcement of the political power of a minority by means of the military. vs coup →
- putsch 64% match — A coup d'état; an illegal effort to forcibly overthrow the current government. vs coup →
- coupvolution 64% match — An instance of regime change in support of a revolutionary movement against an existing government. vs coup →
- autocoup 63% match — A coup d'état in which a nation's leader, despite having come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and unlawfully assumes extraordinary powers. vs coup →
- countercoup 60% match — A coup which seeks to overthrow the government installed by a previous coup vs coup →
- couped 60% match — Cut off smoothly, as distinguished from erased (used especially for the head or limb of an animal). vs coup →