groupuscule

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French groupuscule.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹuːpəˌskjuːl/

Noun

groupuscule (plural groupuscules)

1. A small political group, especially of an extremist faction.
   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 87:

     Thus, by the time that I enrolled as an “undergraduate” at Balliol College, Oxford, I was already a militant “student” member of the International Socialist groupuscule, as such factions were to become known after the momentously imminent events in France.

Derived terms

• groupuscular

Translations

small political group

• Catalan: grupuscle m
• French: groupuscule (fr) m
• Italian: gruppuscolo m
• Polish: mała frakcja f
• Portuguese: grupelho m
• Spanish: grupúsculo (es) m

See also

• splinter group

French

Etymology

From groupe +‎ -cule, modeled after minuscule.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁu.pys.kyl/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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Noun

groupuscule m (plural groupuscules)

1. (derogatory) groupuscule (small political group)

   un groupuscule d'extrême droite ― a small far-right group

   • 2019 March 15, Timothée Boutry, “Attentat de Christchurch : «Une montée de la violence d’extrême droite»”, in Le Parisien‎^[1]:

     En France, même s’il n’est pas passé à l’action, on peut citer le groupuscule AFO (action des forces opérationnelles) démantelé cet été qui projetait de s’en prendre à des musulmans.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Descendants

• Catalan: grupuscle
• English: groupuscule
• Italian: gruppuscolo
• Spanish: grupúsculo

Further reading

• “groupuscule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012