COUP D'ÉTAT Synonyms: 20 Similar and Opposite Words

coup d'état

noun

variants or coup d'etat

Definition of coup d'état

as in coup

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of coup d'état General Muhammadu Buhari, dictator of Nigeria, following a successful coup d'etat against Shehu Shagari. — Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 13 July 2025 Spain The former king of Spain, Juan Carlos, saw an explosion of popularity in the 1980s after helping to foil a coup d'etat attempt. — Justin Klawans, theweek, 27 Feb. 2024 The ceremony came after Nguema seized power in a coup d'etat last week, in the latest usurping of control in African countries. — Justin Klawans, The Week, 4 Sep. 2023 Also in attendance at that event was the junta leader who seized power in Guinea a little over a year after Mali's coup d'etat. — Krista Larson, ajc, 24 Sep. 2022 See All Example Sentences for coup d'état

Recent Examples of Synonyms for coup d'état

Noun

When his father is kidnapped by a paramilitary task force days before the coup, doctor Gustavo Vaca Narvaja returns to his family and decides to risk everything on a desperate escape.

— John Hopewell, Variety, 14 Oct. 2026
In the nineteen-thirties—a decade of political assassinations, failed military coups, brutal invasions of China, and a hard-right reaction against the relative liberalism of the nineteen-twenties—the yakuza embraced the Zeitgeist with gusto.

— Ian Buruma, New Yorker, 12 Oct. 2026

Definition of coup

Noun

The tapes were hidden for decades after the 1996 overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and a leader of the African liberation movement.

— Jack Dunn, Variety, 15 Oct. 2026
Taiwan’s National Day is held on the anniversary ‌of a 1911 uprising that led to the overthrow of China’s last imperial dynasty and the establishment of ‌the Republic of China.

— Reuters, NBC news, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of overthrow

Noun

The 2022 Freedom Convoy began over vaccine requirements for cross-border truckers but grew into a broader revolt against pandemic restrictions.

— ABC News, ABC News, 17 Oct. 2026
Advertisement The Yellow Vest revolt of 2018 to 2019 was an earlier social explosion of precisely that resentment.

— Nicholas Bequelin, Time, 16 Oct. 2026

Definition of revolt

Noun

How is the Schaumburg Democrat grappling with that fateful outcome, while preparing to depart Congress after 10 tumultuous years, which included a pandemic, an insurrection and impeachment proceedings?

— Marni Pyke, Chicago Tribune, 13 Oct. 2026
The film argues that those foundational principles — along with the amendment’s prohibition against those who engage in insurrection serving as heads of state — have come under unprecedented pressure in recent years.

— Clayton Davis, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of insurrection

Noun

Gavras’s previous film, the magnificent Athena, was an action epic and family tragedy about an uprising at a French housing project.

— Bilge Ebiri, Vulture, 15 Oct. 2026
But Qaddafi’s military forces were decisively defeated by Western airpower and his objective of crushing a popular uprising by force was rendered impossible.

— Justin Bronk, Foreign Affairs, 13 Oct. 2026

Definition of uprising

Noun

Last week, Ethiopia’s Army chief accused Egypt, Eritrea, and the Sudanese Armed Forces of fomenting the new insurgency.

— Ishaan Tharoor, New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2026
In the new telling, which adds some revisionist history to the proceedings and is set in 1775, Syn is a reverend doctor waging an insurgency against King George III.

— Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of insurgency

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coup

coup d'état

coup d'oeil

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“Coup d'état.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/coup%20d%27%C3%A9tat. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of coup d'état

noun

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