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A wise man named Huey Lewis once sang that “it’s hip to be square.” As lexicographers—a hip cadre if ever there was one—we heartily agree with this sentiment, not least because the song (as performed by Lewis and his trusted cadre of bandmates dubbed “the News”) prompts us to ponder an etymological descendent (via French and Italian) of the Latin word for square, quadrum: cadre. Squares being a logical and standard shape for frames (as of window and picture varieties), it’s easy to understand why French speakers and later English speakers adopted cadre as a word meaning “frame.” A sense of cadre referring to a metaphorical framework for something (such as a novel or curriculum) soon developed. And if you consider a group of officers in a military regiment as the framework that holds things together for the unit, you’ll understand how yet another sense of cadre, referring to a nucleus of trained personnel, arose. Military leaders and their troops are well-trained and work together as a unified team, which may explain why cadre is now sometimes used more generally to refer to any group of people who have some kind of unifying characteristic—such as a belief in the heart of rock and roll, or perhaps the power of love.
Examples of cadre in a Sentence
Karen D'souza, Mercury News, 18 Apr. 2025
Then there’s the clue found at the scene of the crime: Part of one fresco has been skillfully but incongruously repainted, which implicates a whole cadre of fellow artists all experimenting with the new style that will one day become known as Mannerism.
—Chelsea Leu, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025
Through these efforts, China seeks to build a cadre of allied countries friendly to its geopolitical, economic, and national security goals.
—Deborah Wince-Smith, Forbes.com, 7 Apr. 2025
The company, which is the largest utility in the country, has a massive cadre of 37 lobbyists in Tallahassee, including a former DeSantis chief of staff and other high-profile names.
—Emily L. Mahoney, Orlando Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cadre
Cite this Entry
“Cadre.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cadre. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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