Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A subunit of the Special Forces, usually consisting of 12 soldiers.
  • noun Informal A group consisting of the best members of a larger group; an elite group.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun informal A collection of the best talent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a group of elite soldiers or a leadership group of advisors or workers in an organization

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Informal name for A-detachment : a, first in a series + detachment.]

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Examples

  • The Workers' Party defeated Yeo and his colleagues by fielding its so-called A-team, including Secretary-General Low Thia Khiang, Chairman Sylvia Lim and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP lawyer Chen Show-Mao, who has advised on deals like the Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.'s $22.1 billion initial share sale.

    BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2011

  • Golly, without Ed's A-team, the BBC may even have to let programme makers plug their shows.

    BBC's mass communication 2011

  • The first A-team entered Afghanistan on Oct. 19, 2001, less than six weeks after 9/11.

    Obama's Half-Rumsfeld in Libya George Melloan 2011

  • The first minister and his A-team had intended announcing the referendum poll date of October 2014 before Christmas.

    Who can lay a glove on Alex Salmond? | Kevin McKenna 2012

  • Brags about the time his A-team "stole" a C-130 and flew it in to "save" a Battalion of Marines.

    Heroes or Villains? 2010

  • The "A-team" failed!!!! they rest of the world isn't up their asses like the dummycrats.

    Obama Song | Commentary By Glenn Beck 2009

  • And if you had an A-team candidate up there--I'm so afraid after the president gives his State of the Union next week and Mitch Daniels gives the response, everyone sitting out there is going to go: "Why isn't this man running for president?"

    The Palmetto Polls 2012

  • The A-team and B-team are busy supporting ISS and shuttle - real projects.

    Proponents of DIRECT Offer Rebuttal to NASA's Analysis - NASA Watch 2009

  • Just watched the trailer for the new "A-team" movie, coming out this summer.

    Friday Pix archmage 2010

  • Because real program starts are rare, interspersed with a ton of false-starts and projects that make it a year or two and then get cancelled (ACRV, OSP, etc), managers won't give up their A-team or B-team when a projects is beginning.

    Proponents of DIRECT Offer Rebuttal to NASA's Analysis - NASA Watch 2009

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