Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To elect as a fellow member of a group.
- v. To appoint summarily.
- v. To take or assume for one's own use; appropriate: co-opted the criticism by embracing it.
- v. To neutralize or win over (an independent minority, for example) through assimilation into an established group or culture: co-opt rebels by giving them positions of authority.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To choose conjointly; elect; select by joint choice; specifically, to elect to membership in a committee, board, or society by the choice of its existing members.
Wiktionary
- v. To elect as a fellow member of a group, such as a committee.
- v. To commandeer, appropriate or take over.
- v. To absorb or assimilate into an established group.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. rare To choose or elect in concert with another.
- v. To choose or elect as a colleague or fellow member of a group.
- v. To assimilate (a smaller group) into a larger group.
- v. To persuade an opponent to join one's own side.
- v. To appoint summarily (with or without the appointee's consent).
- v. To appropriate (something rightly belonging to another) as one's own; to preempt.
WordNet 3.0
- v. neutralize or win over through assimilation into an established group
- v. appoint summarily or commandeer
- v. take or assume for one's own use
- v. choose or elect as a fellow member or colleague
Etymologies
- Latin cooptāre : co-, co- + optāre, to choose. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A similar trend briefly emerged in the early 2000s, but the authorities were largely able to intimidate or co-opt the challengers.”
“On the one hand, I want to be like “How dare you co-opt Wolverine and Transformers as part of the Action genre?!?” but then I realized that it is merely another example of how Sci-Fi is the new Mainstream.”
“Then in a televised speech Thursday, Maliki, who had begun the week welcoming the protest, urged people to stay away, saying the event seemed "suspicious" and was likely to be infiltrated by al-Qaeda or perhaps loyalists of Sadaam Hussein's Baath Party or "terrorists" seeking to co-opt it for their own purposes.”
The Washington Post: Anxiety and hope ahead of Iraq 'Day of Rage' protest
“But instead of crushing them, we tried to co-opt them by enticing them with power in the transitional government.”
Mueller on Iraq, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“Technocratic bad ideas tend to co-opt and subsume the elites and those with money and power.”
What's Wrong With DeLong?, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“Dumb technocratic ideas tend to co-opt the elites; the worst of them co-opt the academy and business (along with the bureaucrats) simultaneously.”
Technocrats and Populists, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
“Everyone is concerned the Republicans are going to co-opt the movement.”
The Washington Post: At Va. tea party gathering, insurgents worry GOP will 'co-opt the movement'
“This doesn't mean that, on occasion, some folks won't try to co-opt the emerging church label on behalf of their own particular agenda, but such labels end up falling away.”
The Huffington Post: Christian Piatt: Why Religious Fundamentalism Can't Last
“Among your many strengths, the lack of a list of demands that so many of your elders have complained about, your inclusiveness, and your utopian streak -- the urge to create a tiny, thoroughly democratic new society near the beating financial heart of the old one -- will make you far harder to co-opt.”
“Think about it: In all their movies they don 't want to kill the rich, they want to marry them — or at least co-opt or become them.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘co-opt’.
-
opt
opt, optic, Coptic, option, adoption, co-opt, optimal, optical, optician, optometrist, apoptosis, hemoptysis and 21 more...
-
Evolution
darwin, hms beagle, galapagos, evolution, natural selection, select for, confer, survival advantage, environmental pre..., mutation, genome, homozygous and 193 more...
-
lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 887 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for co-opt.
chained_bear That's the only misuse of this word that vexes me, yep. Dec 29, 2008
bilby I'm a member of the Co-op. Uhh, voluntarily. Dec 29, 2008
sarra I meant is it that particular misuse, or a different one! Dec 29, 2008
chained_bear The misuse, definitely. Dec 29, 2008
sarra Ooooh, I have genuinely never heard this word confused with co-op; is that the misuse which vexes you so, or something else? Dec 28, 2008
chained_bear But it actually is a word. In fact it's one of those that, since frequently misused along with co-op, drives me completely batshit. Dec 28, 2008
whichbe This word sounds suspiciously like co-op. Dec 25, 2008