co-opt

(kō-ŏpt′, kō′ŏpt′)

tr.v. co-opt·ed, co-opt·ing, co-opts

1. To elect as a fellow member of a group.

2. To appoint summarily.

3. To take or assume for one's own use; appropriate: co-opted the criticism by embracing it.

4. To neutralize or win over (an independent minority, for example) through assimilation into an established group or culture: co-opt rebels by giving them positions of authority.

[Latin cooptāre : co-, co- + optāre, to choose.]

co′-op·ta′tion n.

co-op′ta·tive (-tə-tĭv) adj.

co-op′tion n.

co-op′tive adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	co-optation - the selection of a new member (usually by a vote of the existing membership) co-option election - the act of selecting someone or something; the exercise of deliberate choice; "her election of medicine as a profession"
	2.	co-optation - the act of appointing summarily (with or without the appointee's consent) co-option appointment, designation, naming, assignment - the act of putting a person into a non-elective position; "the appointment had to be approved by the whole committee"

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References in periodicals archive

If the Palestinian Arab community was, in fact, weak (traditional, tribal, vulnerable to co-optation and intimidation or corrupt), as the above authors suggest, then we would have seen greater success in the Israeli state policy of divide and rule, and in the intended alienation and division of Arab Palestinian citizens.

Internal violence: state's role and society's responses

Important concepts, such as class consciousness, class in itself, class for itself, corporatism, and co-optation are either not acknowledged or are not defined with the precision that is required.

Michael Snodgrass, Deference and Defiance in Monterrey: Workers, Paternalism, and Revolution in Mexico, 1890-1950

In a country where class, co-optation, and corruption dominate electoral politics, the isthmus has been something of an anomaly--though not totally immune to these pitfalls.

Combating Coca-Cola and the global conquistadores: following a tradition of resistance that goes back to pre-Columbian days, indigenous youth organizers in southern Mexico take on transnationals and the free-trade invasion. (Action)

Rather than challenge sectarian efforts at co-optation head-on, many of the assemblies and unemployed unions turned inward and declared themselves "autonomous." While the parties' plans verged on scripture, some autonomists turned not having a plan into its own religion: So wary were they of co-optation any proposal to move from protest to policy was immediately suspect.

Elections vs. democracy in Argentina

The co-optation of education by government, with its irresponsible doctrine of church-state separation, is the chief means by which the intellectual errors bedeviling education are held in place.

Restoring the sacred house of education

In Zahedi's words, "without the cohering presence of Khomeini and the indispensable coordination mechanism provided by the mosques, Iran's hodgepodge and contradictory opposition could have been divided through co-optation, succumbed to repression, or disintegrated due to personal and ideological cleavages and rivalries" (134).

The Iranian Revolution Then and Now: Indicators of Regime Instability

Feminism's co-optation by the academy, then, is a timely topic for all of us who are trying to change teaching styles and learning outcomes in that conservative environment.

The Pedagogical Mystique: Feminist Academic Discourse. (Book Reviews)

Co-optation is further encouraged by the practice of co-funding.

Re: social justice philanthropy. (Letter to the Editor)

But Brenner also acknowledges that organization by working-class women is liable to co-optation by "social welfare" feminism's more familiar vision, "a workplace attuned to family needs, a benevolent and expanded welfare state, and a democratized nuclear family." How can this co-optation be avoided?

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