Word.ws English Dictionary

clique

/kliːk//klik/

clique noun: a small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic such as lifestyle or social status, or common purpose; specifically one formed for disreputable purposes, or which purports to be an authority on a particular matter; a cabal. Also the alternative letter-case form of Clique.

Noun

clique (plural cliques)

  1. A small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic such as lifestyle or social status, or common purpose; specifically one formed for disreputable purposes, or which purports to be an authority on a particular matter; a cabal.
    • Near-synonyms: circle, faction, gang
    • This school used to be really friendly, but now everyone keeps to their own cliques.
  2. (broadly) A subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph.
    • The problem of finding the largest clique in an arbitrary graph is NP-complete.
    Antonyms:
    independent set
  3. (Internet, broadly) A group of related websites that link to each other, like a webring but with exclusive membership determined by the clique owner.
    • Does anyone know what an internet clique is/does? I came across a few and am thoroughly confused.1999 January 3, Jackie, “[S]omeone help me out?”, in alt.fan.leo-dicaprio (Usenet)
    • [E]ven though we're not "regulars" anymore…*sniffle*…we still can't forget the NG [newsgroup]…i always tell new fans about it…(people who join my clique, etc…)…and besides…i owe the NG a LOT…itz where i met my best friend…2000 August 16, - deanna -, “ot: hiya”, in alt.fan.backstreet.boys (Usenet)
  4. (China, broadly, historical) An informal faction in the Republic of China (1912–1949) led by one or more warlords exercising regional control through local armed forces (particularly during the Warlord Era); a regional junta.
    • In the South, too, due either to direct or indirect machinations by imperialism, there mushroomed many cliques and factions which fought against one another; in the provinces, small cliques and factions within big ones were also struggling against one another.1954, Tsjenn Po-ta [i.e., Chen Boda], chapter 2, in [anonymous], transl., Notes on Ten Years of Civil War (1927–1936), Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 42
    • Within the military, the Kwangsi clique of Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi were openly opposed to Chiang [Kai-shek]'s policies; while Ho Ying-ch'in and others were ambivalent.1976, Donald A. Jordan, “Taking the Expedition into North China”, in The Northern Expedition: China’s National Revolution of 1926–1928, Honolulu, Hi.: The University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, part 2...

Verb

clique (third-person singular simple present cliques, present participle cliquing, simple past and past participle cliqued)

  1. (informal, intransitive) To form a clique (“small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic”; noun sense 1); to associate with others in a clannish way.
    • [N]o unkind feeling should exist in the profession, for this never puts a penny more into a man's pocket; and […] that injurious system of cliquing together should be put a stop to, […]1843 September 28, George French Flowers, “The Contrapuntist’s Society [letter to the editor]”, in [George Macfarren], editor, The Musical World, volume XVIII, number 39, London: E. B. Taylor […]...
    • [Benjamin Robert Haydon] first discovered the true value, the inestimable worth of the Elgin marbles. We may almost describe him as the discoverer of the Elgin marbles. Lord Elgin [Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin], it is true, first discovered them in Athens, but they were re-interred in Britain...1845 July 5, [Robert] Knox, “On the Supposed Advantages of a Knowledge of Anatomy to the Artist. II.–Haydon.”, in The Medical Times: A Journal of English and Foreign Medicine, and Miscellany of...
  2. (informal, intransitive, specifically) To act with others secretly to gain a desired end; to plot, to scheme.

Proper noun capitalized: Clique

the Clique

  1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of the Skeleton Clique (“the fan base of the American band Twenty One Pilots”).
    • The Skeleton Clique, often referred to as just 'the clique,' is what members of the Twenty One Pilots fandom have dubbed themselves. The clique enjoys the band because their songs typically have a deeper meaning and are easy to connect to.2016 October 26, Catherine Wiesehuegel, “Skeleton Clique Shows Support for Twenty One Pilots”, in The Horizon, Austin, Tex.: Westwood Student Press, Westwood High School, archived from the original...

Also used as

clique is also the alternative letter-case form of Clique.

clique meaning in Hindi, Arabic, Persian and Thai

clique in Hindi

small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic
गुट guṭ

clique in Arabic

small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic
طُغْمَة ṭuḡma, عُصْبَة ʕuṣba, زَمْرَة zamra

clique in Persian

small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic
گروهک goruhak
subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph
کلیک

clique in Thai

small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic
กลุ่ม glùm, ก๊ก gók, ก๊วน gúuan, เหล่า lào, พรรคพวก, พวก pûuak
subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph
กลุ่มพรรคพวก
More languagesFewer languages
clique in Vietnamese
bè lũ, bọn, đảng phái, clique

Examples of clique in a sentence

  • With the assumption of a public body, it has combined the exclusiveness of a private clique.1833, Edward Lytton Bulwer [i.e., Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The State of the Arts”, in England and the English […], volume II, London...
  • Choose well your set; our feeble nature seeks / The aid of clubs, the countenance of cliques; […]1846 October 14 (date delivered), Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], Urania: A Rhymed Lesson. […], Boston, Mass.: William D[avis] Ticknor &...
  • And, in this year, Wu Peifu, by defeating the Fengtian Clique in the Zhili-Fengtian Clique War, also reached the zenith of his power and influence.2022, Vivienne Xiangwei Guo, “The Beginning of the End: Wu Peifu and Good Government”, in Negotiating a Chinese Federation: The Exchange of...
  • Signor [Giovanni] Dupré […] by no means came in through the academy gate, but rose from the position of a mere woodcarving workman, and was not a little cliqued against by the regular students […]1884 August 29, “Thoughts on Art”, in The Pall Mall Budget: Being a Weekly Collection of Articles Printed in the Pall Mall Gazette from Day...

All 34 example sentences with clique

Synonyms of clique

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of clique

Forms of clique

Noun
pluralcliques
alternative formclick
Verb
third-person singular presentcliques
present participlecliquing
past participlecliqued
pastcliqued
Proper noun
alternative formclique

Plural of clique: cliques

Origin of clique

The noun is borrowed from French clique (“exclusive group of individuals; (archaic or obsolete) group of people hired to applaud or boo, claque”), from cliquer (“to clap; to clack, to click”), ultimately of imitative origin. The proper noun and verb are derived from the noun.

Ellipsis of Skeleton Clique.

Words formed from clique

Phrases with clique

Words that rhyme with clique

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about clique

What does clique mean?
Clique means a small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic such as lifestyle or social status, or common purpose; specifically one formed for disreputable purposes, or which purports to be an authority on a particular matter; a cabal.
What is clique in Hindi?
Clique in Hindi is गुट (guṭ). See Clique meaning in Hindi.
How do you use clique in a sentence?
With the assumption of a public body, it has combined the exclusiveness of a private clique.
What part of speech is clique?
Clique can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce clique?
Clique is pronounced /kliːk/ (UK).
What is the plural of clique?
The plural of clique is cliques.

Words near clique in the dictionary

  1. clipsome
  2. Clipston
  3. Clipstone
  4. clipt
  5. clipweed
  6. clique
  7. clique number
  8. clique numbers
  9. clique tree
  10. clique trees
  11. clique width

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clique (page history and authors); Clique (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-clique-3.ogg, En-us-clique.ogg.

Cite this entry: “clique.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clique. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.