Meanings
proper noun
- The leak of a large number of US embassy and consulate documents to the public on November 28 2010 by the website WikiLeaks, and the scandal surrounding the diplomatic spying revealed in these documents.
Distilled to its essence, it is by no means clear that the ‘Cablegate’ disclosures were intended to support freedom of information, transparency, probity in government, or defence of the public interest.
2013, Andrew F. Cooper, Jorge Heine, Ramesh Thakur, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Diplomacy, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 464
Origin
From cable (“telegram”) + -gate. First appeared on the official WikiLeaks Twitter account.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
Cablegate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cablegate
MLA
“Cablegate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cablegate. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Cablegate,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Cablegate.
Source: Cablegate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.