We investigate the dispersion of the charge carrier plasmon in the three prototypical charge-density wave bearing transition-metal dichalcogenides 2H-TaSe₂, 2H-TaS₂, and 2H-NbSe₂ employing electron energy-loss spectroscopy. For all three compounds the plasmon dispersion is found to be negative for small momentum transfers. This is in contrast with the generic behavior observed in simple...