camarilla

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The Word of the Day for May 3 is:

camarilla   \kam-uh-RILL-uh\   noun
     : a group of unofficial often secret and scheming advisers; also : cabal

Example sentence:
     A resistance group has sprung up and is plotting to overthrow the tyrant 
leader and his camarilla.

Did you know?
     "Camarilla" is borrowed from Spanish and is the diminutive of "camara," 
which traces to the Late Latin "camera" and means "room"; a "camarilla," then, 
is literally a "small room." Political cliques and plotters are likely to meet 
in small rooms (generally with the door closed) as they hatch their schemes, 
and, by 1834, "camarilla" was being used in English for such closed-door groups 
of scheming advisers. The word is relatively rare in formal English prose, but 
it still finds occasional use in news stories. Some other descendants of the 
Latin "camera" include "camera," "comrade," "camaraderie," and "bicameral."





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