coterie
\ KOH-tuh-ree \ , noun;
1.a group of people who associate closely.
2.an exclusive group; clique.
3.a group of prairie dogs occupying a communal burrow.
Quotes:
The coterie world of Bloomsbury or the Strand is vicarious, but all reading provides vicarious participation in a social group.
-- Robert DeMaria Jr., "Samuel Johnson and the Life of Reading" , 1997
Sturges also had a brilliant eye for finding unconventional talent, and often cast from the same coterie of quirky actors to makes his films feel textured, like a world of their own.
-- Hampton Stevens, “‘It’s like a Hollywood Ending’: When Judd Apatow Met Graham Parker,” The Atlantic , 2012
Origin:
Coterie is French in origin, originally used to refer to an association of tenant farmers. It entered English in the mid-1700s.
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