co-opt
English
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co-opt
- /ˈkəʊˌɒpt/ UK
- /ˈkoʊˌɑpt/ US
Rhymes with -ɒpt, -ɑpt
Where it comes from
From Latin cooptō (“to choose, elect”), from co(m)- + optō (“to opt”).
verb co-opts · co-opting · co-opted · coopt · coöpt
- To elect as a fellow member of a group, such as a committee.
- To commandeer, appropriate or take over. Artists' engagement with bleeding-edge tech will always have the potential to critique its destructive civil and military applications, as well as the potential to be co-opted by them—as propaganda or R&D—as the rise of the so-called knowledge economy has amply demonstrated.
- To absorb or assimilate into an established group, movement, category, etc. In the resolution between the culture and the counterculture, it is impossible to tell who co-opted whom, because in reality the bohemians and the bourgeois co-opted each other. They emerge from this process as bourgeois bohemians, or Bobos.
Translations
Every language
verb elect as a fellow member
| Español | cooptar |
|---|---|
| Français | coopter |
| Deutsch | kooptieren |
| Italiano | cooptare |
| Română | cooptare |
| Русский | принима́ть в соста́в prinimátʹ v sostáv |
verb absorb or assimilate
| Español | cooptar |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | kooptieren |
| Русский | привлека́ть на свою́ сто́рону privlekátʹ na svojú stóronu, поглоти́ть poglotítʹ, вобра́ть в себя́ vobrátʹ v sebjá |
Talk about this word "co-opt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/co-opt. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. co-opt. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/co-opt "co-opt." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/co-opt.Cite this
@misc{co_opt_2026,
title = {co-opt},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/co-opt},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
