From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcabalca‧bal /kəˈbæl/ noun [countable] formal GROUP OF PEOPLEa small group of people who make secret plans, especially in order to have political power
Examples from the Corpus
cabal• Leaders gather in closed-door cabals and carry on regardless of what their citizens think.• The Tyrrell Society and all that pining after defunct Oxford cabals - it's irrelevant, Harry, don't you see?• People who imagine that some small cabal of powerful investors move the market often talk about the gnomes of Zurich.Origin cabal (1600-1700) French cabale, from Medieval Latin cabbala “secret knowledge”, from Late Hebrew qabbalah “received (knowledge)” 