COUP

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

IPA (US):

Dictionary entry overview: What does coup mean?

• COUP (noun)
The noun COUP has 2 senses:

1. a sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force

2. a brilliant and notable success

Familiarity information: COUP used as a noun is rare.

Dictionary entry details

• COUP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sudden and decisive change of government illegally or by force

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

coup; coup d'etat; putsch; takeover

Hypernyms ("coup" is a kind of...):

group action (action taken by a group of people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "coup"):

countercoup (a sudden and decisive overthrow of a government that gained power by a coup d'etat)

Instance hyponyms:

October Revolution; Russian Revolution (the coup d'etat by the Bolsheviks under Lenin in November 1917 that led to a period of civil war which ended in victory for the Bolsheviks in 1922)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A brilliant and notable success

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("coup" is a kind of...):

success (an attainment that is successful)

Context examples

Heavy-game shots liked to be in a position to cap the tales of their rivals, and journalists were not averse from sensational coups, even when imagination had to aid fact in the process.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had hoped to be able to bring news of your great coup.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is a matter of history—that secret history of a nation which is often so much more intimate and interesting than its public chronicles—that Oberstein, eager to complete the coup of his lifetime, came to the lure and was safely engulfed for fifteen years in a British prison.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The word "sensuous" had the effect of further disquieting Tom but before he could invent a protest the coupé came to a stop and Daisy signalled us to draw up alongside.