coterie

plural coteries

1. A circle of individuals who associate with one another for a common purpose.

   The new junior employee joined our merry after-hours coterie.

   5 more examples

   A tightly knit coterie of executive powerbrokers made all the real decisions in the company.

   Baskets of game had reached her house, but not a single line, in his own hand, had met her eye. Better it should be so: Georgiana was not yet in a state to "lure the gentle tassel back," but no thanks to the chattering coterie whom she had courted for the sole purpose of rendering the marquis reassured on the subject of proper acquaintance.

   1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 27

   The verses were copied out, handed about, sneered at, admired, passed from coterie to coterie.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 19, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

   The branch was worked by pull-and push ^([sic]) trains, drawn or propelled by one of a small coterie of the sprightly little Wolverhampton type of 0-4-2 side tanks.

   1955 January, R. S. McNaught, “From the Severn to the Mersey by Great Western”, in Railway Magazine, page 18

   In the case of a crack-smoking, prostitute-frequenting Mr. Sheen, many people in Hollywood say there is a long list of enablers: managers and agents and publicists; a coterie of assistants and party buddies; prostitutes, drug dealers and sex film stars; and the tabloid media, which have fed on Mr. Sheen’s antics for years.

   2011 March 7, Brooks Barnes, Bill Carter, Michael Cieply, “Sheen Is Surrounded by a Coterie of Enablers”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: clique

2. A communal burrow of prairie dogs.

   The coterie was located in the middle of our wheat field.

   3 more examples

   The population of each coterie constantly changes over a period of a few months or years, by death, birth, and emigration. But the coterie boundary remains about the same, being learned by each prairie dog born into it.

   2000, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, page 473

   The odd part of prairie dog life is that this friendly state exists only among the members of each coterie, and does not extend between coteries.

   2001, Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, The Emperor's Embrace: The Evolution of Fatherhood

   Young prairie dogs in a coterie are brothers and sisters. They have the same father and sometimes the same mother. To find a mate from a different family, young prairie dogs must travel to a new area.

   2009, Miriam Aronin, The Prairie Dog's Town: A Perfect Hideaway, page 22