special interest group

noun

An advocacy group.

Meanings

nounspecial interest group (plural special interest groups)

plural special interest groups

  1. An advocacy group.

    The Democrats are a party controlled by elites, liberals and special interest groups. They are out of touch with America’s middle class.

    2025 January 31, Doug Sosnik, “Trump is Already Failing. That’s the Key to a Big Democratic Rebound.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    1 more example

    We can be sure that all the special interest groups in the country will attack the part of this plan that affects them directly. They will say that sacrifice is fine, as long as other people do it, but that their sacrifice is unreasonable, or unfair, or harmful to the country. If they succeed, then the burden on the ordinary citizen, who is not organized into an interest group, would be crushing.

    1977 April 18, Jimmy Carter, President's Address to the Nation on Proposed National Energy Policy

    Synonyms: SIG

  2. A group formed to discuss a particular topic or issue.

    Synonyms: SIG

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn advocacy group.

Similar

nounA group formed to discuss a particular topic or issue.

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More synonyms by meaning

nounan interest group that tries to influence legislators or bureaucrats to act in their favor, typically through lobbying

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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

special interest group. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/special%20interest%20group

MLA

“special interest group.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/special%20interest%20group. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “special interest group,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/special%20interest%20group.

Source: special interest group on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.