cadre
Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
ca·dre
(kä′drā, kä′drə)n.
1. A nucleus of trained personnel around which a larger organization can be built and trained: a cadre of corporals who train recruits.
2.
a. A tightly knit group of zealots who are active in advancing the interests of a revolutionary party.
b. A member of such a group.
[French, from Italian quadro, frame, from Latin quadrum, a square; see kwetwer- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: Cadre was borrowed in the 1800s from French, where it had originally meant "frame" but had come to refer also to a group of commanding officers, civil servants, or managers. French speakers will recognize that the source word's final e has no accent and thus is not pronounced with an (ā) sound. The (kä′drā) pronunciation is an American invention that arose as a mistake, probably because its foreign or European origin remained vaguely in people's awareness without a clear understanding of the French source word. In this situation, when a word is thought to be a foreign borrowing, people often follow established patterns of pronunciation in borrowed words, and for cadre, Spanish padre presents a familiar model. The pronunciation of cadre ending in (ā) may also have been made more likely by the tendency of English speakers to drop accent marks when spelling French borrowings, such as protege or cliche, while retaining the final vowel sound. In any case, the pronunciation of cadre with a final (ā) predominates in the United States. In our 2016 survey, 79 percent of the Usage Panel said they pronounced the word this way, while 21 percent said they used (kä′drə). Very small minorities of 2 percent each pronounced it as (kăd′rē) or (kä′dər), but both of these pronunciations were deemed unacceptable by a large majority of the Panel.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
cadre
(ˈkɑːdə)n
1. (Military) the nucleus of trained professional servicemen forming the basis for the training of new units or other military expansion
2. a basic unit or structure, esp of specialists or experts; nucleus; core
3. (Military) a group of revolutionaries or other political activists, esp when taking part in military or terrorist activities
4. a member of a cadre
[C19: from French, from Italian quadro, from Latin quadrum square]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
ca•dre
(ˈkæd ri, ˈkɑ dreɪ)n.
1. the key group of officers and enlisted personnel necessary to establish and train a new military unit.
2. any core group qualified to form, train, and lead an expanded organization or work force.
3. a member of a cadre.
4. a framework.
[1905–10; < French: frame bounds. < Italian quadro < Latin quadrum square]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cadre
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Switch to new thesaurus
| Noun | 1. | cadre - a small unit serving as part of or as the nucleus of a larger political movement sleeper cell - a cell of sleepers; "an al-Qaeda sleeper cell may have used Arizona as its base" radical cell, terrorist cell - a cell of terrorists (usually 3 to 5 members); "to insure operational security the members of adjacent terrorist cells usually don't know each other or the identity of their leadership" political entity, political unit - a unit with political responsibilities political movement - a group of people working together to achieve a political goal |
| 2. | cadre - a nucleus of military personnel capable of expansion armed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker" core, core group, nucleus - a small group of indispensable persons or things; "five periodicals make up the core of their publishing program" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
cadre
noun group, band, core, framework, corps, nucleus, hard core, key group An elite cadre of trained soldiers was standing by.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
cadre
n (Mil, fig) → Kader m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995