The Word: Caucus

Definition: A caucus is defined as a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction, usually to select candidates or to decide on policy. The term is also used to describe a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause.

Used in a Sentence: Members of the Youth Sport Safety Caucus hosted a briefing with leading health professional organizations to discuss ways to prevent concussions in women’s soccer.

History: According to William Harris, a professor at Middlebury College, “the term Caucus is first attested in the diary of John Adams in 1763 as a meeting of a small group interested in political matters, but William Gordon’s ‘History of the Independence of the United States of America, 1788’ speaks of the establishment of caucus political clubs as going back fifty years earlier than his time of writing in 1774, so a first-occurrence date for the caucus can be estimated in retrospect as early as 1724.”