cohort
0 antonyms and opposites of cohort, grouped by meaning.
Noun — A group of people who share a defining characteristic, especially starting something at the same time, and who are studied or tracked together.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun research and education
A group of people who share a defining characteristic, especially starting something at the same time, and who are studied or tracked together.
“The 2024 cohort of trainees was the largest the hospital has taken.”
2. noun informal, often disapproving
A companion or supporter, especially one of a group backing a particular person.
“The mayor arrived with two of his closest cohorts.”
How to use cohort
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
The group sense is standard in research writing; the single-companion sense is informal and some careful writers still object to it.
Etymology
From Latin cohors, cohort- meaning an enclosure or a company of soldiers; a cohort was one tenth of a Roman legion.
Full origin of cohort →Frequently asked questions
Can cohort mean one person?
In casual use yes, meaning a companion or accomplice, as in one of his cohorts. Traditionally the word named a group, so this singular use is still avoided in formal and academic writing.
What is a cohort study?
It is a study that identifies a group sharing a characteristic, such as being born in the same year or taking the same drug, and follows them over time to see what happens. It differs from a case-control study, which starts from the outcome and looks backwards.
What is the difference between a cohort and a generation?
A generation is a broad, loosely defined age band spanning roughly two decades. A cohort is defined precisely by a shared event or start date, such as everyone enrolling in September, and can be as short as a single week.