What does "coup" mean?
A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
Coup
/kuː/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
- Grammar: coup is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: putsch, takeover, abduction, accomplished fact.
- Useful contrasts: blunder, continuity, failure.
- Usage evidence: We only have secondhand information of the coup.
How to use "coup"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "coup" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "coup" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "coup" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "coup" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "coup" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "putsch" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
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Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "coup", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A quick, brilliant, and highly successful act.
"The conference was a major coup for Robarts, who received congratulations for his 'expert handling' of the 'risky venture.'"
- 2 a brilliant and notable success wordnet
- 3 Of Native Americans, a blow against an enemy delivered in a way that demonstrates bravery. US, historical
"Among the Blackfeet the capture of a shield, bow, gun, war bonnet, war shirt, or medicine pipe was deemed a coup."
- 4 a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force wordnet
- 5 A coup d'état.
"Military coups and the military regimes which follow from them are so much a feature of third world politics that their presence or absence in any given region might almost be taken as a rough and ready touchstone of third worldliness."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 A takeover of one group by another. broadly
"Liz Truss’s government is in chaos after the chancellor refused to confirm he would bring forward his budget to calm the markets and the home secretary accused fellow MPs of a coup against the prime minister. […] Backbenchers also expressed outrage at [Suella] Braverman’s suggestion of a “coup” against Truss."
- 7 A single roll of the wheel at roulette, or a deal in rouge et noir.
- 8 One of various named strategies employed by the declarer to win more tricks, such as the Bath coup.
Verb
- 1 To execute a coup. intransitive
"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 !"
- 2 To exchange, barter. Northern-England, Scotland
"How that he had been couped from hand to hand, ſometimes kept againſt his will as Captive, ſometimes beſieged, ſometimes brought to battle againſt his will by the Duglaſſes to fight againſt the Earl of Lenox, […]"
- 3 To subject (a nation) to a coup d'état. informal, transitive
"We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it."
- 4 To empty out, overturn, or tilt, such as from a cart or wheelbarrow. transitive
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"We only have secondhand information of the coup."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "coup"?
Common synonyms include: putsch, takeover, abduction, accomplished fact, accomplishment, achievement.
How do you use "coup" in a sentence?
We only have secondhand information of the coup.
How do you pronounce "coup"?
Pronounced /kuː/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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).
Etymology 2
From Middle English coupen (“to buy; (figuratively) to pay for”), from Old Norse kaupa (“to buy, bargain, barter, exchange”).