These words refer to a group of people who have joined forces for some secret purpose which is looked upon as evil and often ahs to do with the displacement or discrediting of an established authority or government. Conspiracy is the most general term; it can apply to any combination of persons united for the accomplishment of an unlawful or reprehensible end: a conspiracy of gangsters who were forcing shopkeepers to pay protection under the threat of personal harm; a conspiracy of business-men who were trying to wrest control of a large company from its legal owners; the conspiracy which assassinated Caesar. Cabal suggests a small, well-organized group of highly placed people intent on a clearly defined goal; this usually involves an attempt to bring about a power change in some governmental structure or the overthrow someone in a position of great authority: a cabal of cabinet ministers seeking to over throw the president and turn the republic into a fascist state. Junta is the most specific of these words in that it almost always denotes a group of people united for political intrigue: a shaky régime that was ripe for seizure by a military junta . The word also may carry the implication of a temporary government during a crisis or of an emergency governing structure set up after a revolution: broadcasts by the junta promising free election once the dissidents had been purged.