Meaning & use
Cooptation
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The act of absorbing or incorporating a person, group, or idea, often to neutralize opposition or gain their support.
See it in a sentence
Critics accused the movement's leaders of cooptation after they accepted funding from the very corporations they once opposed.
The board practiced cooptation by inviting its harshest critic to join as a member.
A note on using this word
Often spelled with a hyphen as 'co-optation,' this term is frequently used in sociology and political science to describe how institutions defuse dissent by bringing critics inside the fold.
Words with a similar meaning
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