coalition

noun

1. 1

   A temporary group or union of organizations, usually formed for a particular advantage.

   The Liberal Democrats and Conservative parties formed a coalition government in 2010.

   At a time when Mr. Cameron is being squeezed from both sides — from the right by members of his own party and by the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe U.K. Independence Party, and from the left by his Liberal Democrat coalition partners — the move seemed uncharacteristically clunky.

   In a quirk of German politics, the governing coalitions are often given names. The previous coalition government, headed by the SPD (red), included the Green Party (green) and Liberal Party (yellow) - together they were known as the “traffic light” coalition.

2. 2

   rareA group of cheetahs.

   Sometimes the ante is upped, the gaggle of bowlers all working on their batsman in turn, like a coalition of cheetahs singling out a vulnerable gazelle, sending their distinctive balls down until the pressure forces a mistake or the batsman gets his own back by smashing a bad ball over everyone’s heads.

   Majed Sultan Ali was on his second visit to the game reserve in a bid to photograph a coalition of cheetahs.

   This is the incredible moment a juvenile ostrich attempts to outrun a coalition of cheetahs that forms a central part of the latest BBC programme to be presented by Sir David Attenborough.

Forms

plural

coalitions