What does "brigue" mean?

Intrigue; secretive machinations.

Brigue

//bɹiːɡ// name, noun, verb

name, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Intrigue; secretive machinations. obsolete
"the rise and decay of the Papal power , the politics of that Court , the Brigues of the Cardinals , the tricks of the Conclaves"

Verb

1
To achieve or obtain by underhand methods. obsolete
"[W]e think it very unbecoming our Prudence, that the Determination ſhould be remitted to the Authors themſelves; when our Adversaries, by Briguing and Caballing, have cauſed so univerſal a Defection from us, that the greater Part of our Society has already deſerted to them, [...]"

Proper Noun

1
French spelling of Brig, Switzerland.
"The main line (Thoune to Brigue) is 52 miles long, while the branch from Spiez to Bönigen is 12¾ miles in length."

"the rise and decay of the Papal power , the politics of that Court , the Brigues of the Cardinals , the tricks of the Conclaves"

Borrowed from French brigue, of uncertain origin. Compare Italian briga, Spanish brega.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.