coup d'etat

A form of coup d'état — The sudden overthrow of a government, differing from a revolution by being carried out by a small group of people who replace only the leading figures.

Meanings

nouncoup d'etat (plural coups d'etat or coup d'etats)

plural coups d'etat · plural coup d'etats

  1. alternativeAlternative form of coup d'état.

    [Chapter] 14. Coup d’Etat

    2005, Kenneth D. Ackerman, Boss Tweed: The Rise and Fall of the Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York, Carroll & Graf Publishers, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    The truth of the axiom that there is nothing so successful as success, is more conclusively proved by the Coup d’Etat of Louis Napoleon than by any other event of the period.

    1870 October, R.H. Stoddard, “Literature at Home”, reprinted in Putnam’s Magazine. Original Papers of Literature, Science, Art, and National Interests. New Series: Sixth Volume, July—November 1870, 1870, G. P. Putnam and Sons, page 460

    These documents throw light on many features of the coup d’etat of December 2, 1851, and the plebiscite which followed it.

    1904, Frank Maloy Anderson [ed.], The Constitutions and Other Select Documents Illustrative of the History of France, 1789–1901, The H. W. Wilson Company, number 111, page 538

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

coup d'etat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coup%20d'etat

MLA

“coup d'etat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coup%20d'etat. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coup d'etat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coup%20d'etat.

Source: coup d'etat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.