cabal
/kəˈbæl/noun
1- a secret political clique or faction秘密政治派系, 秘密小集团：
a cabal of dissidents.
不同政见者组成的秘密集团。
1.1
- historical a committee of five ministers under Charles Ⅱ, whose surnames happened to begin with C, A, B, A, and L〈史〉（查理二世时的）五大臣小集团（此五人姓名首字母恰好为C, A, B, A和L）。
词源
late 16th cent. (denoting the cabbala)： from French cabale, from medieval Latin cabala （see CABBALA）.