I'm trying to find a specific word that I've forgotten , it is a noun that refers to a secret group or society that is controlling the government. I'm about 60% sure it starts with 's' and 90% sure it's a single word. It's sometimes used in spy/action movies. Any help would be appreciated.
Edit: Some examples of things that could be considered this are the illuminati, hydra from marvel. Use of this word would be "the illuminati is a blank" or referring perhaps to a politician "I sespect he is part of a blank"
Best Answer
Welcome to the site. I believe your question is appropriate here because it is partly about concept-associative vocabulary.
Four words come to mind, but all (in your 40%) without initial "s", and all with initial "c". They are coterie, cabal, camarilla,and clique. Whether these are used in movies or not I cannot say. The meanings are trivial to look up but of the four I like:
and
Wikipedia has a broader definition of cabal that fits it almost exactly to your specification:
An illustration of the use of cabal is:
It is interesting that these words reflect a Romance language influence (French & Spanish). If we look for similar words in northern Europe (Scandinavian, German, Russian) we often find transliterative versions of cabal and clique.