Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use tribe in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Tribe means an ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes). The tribe is often the basis of ethnic identity. Example: “She found her tribe among fellow cross-stitchers.”

Examples of tribe by meaning

nounAn ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn...

  • the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes
  • The Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-state

nounA tribal nation or people.

  • This leaves for consideration of this group of small tribes, or subtribes, so far as mapped by the writer quoted, the Teule, Cazcan, and Tecuexe.1911, Cyrus Thomas, Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America

nounA socially cohesive group of people within a society.

  • She found her tribe among fellow cross-stitchers.
  • Not that I have anything against them, I am terribly fond of the members of the tribe, it is just that basically, they are a bunch of obsessive freaks.2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 26

nounA class or group of things.

  • The fact that almost 300 U.S. reprint publishers have been identified is evidence that the reprint tribe continues to increase.1972, Carol A. Nemeyer, Scholarly Reprint Publishing in the United States, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →ISBN, page 7

nounA hierarchical rank between family and genus.

  • There is good reason in favour of dividing the extensive tribe of Antelopes into two groups, differing as to characters of the dentition, and to unite these groups with the Ovines and Bovines.1925, Karl Alfred von Zittel, Arthur Smith Woodward, Max Schlosser, Text-book of Paleontology, volume 3, Macmillan and Company, Limited...

nounA family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line.

  • the Duchess tribe of shorthorns

More sentences with tribe

  • The tribe consists of about two hundred lodges, that is, of about a thousand individuals.From the entry lodge
  • The Lord divided the land to the tribes, each according to his lot.From the entry lot
  • Most Machiguenga lack personal names. Members of the same tribe are individuated using kin terminology.From the entry Machiguenga
  • The Choctaw Nation is the third-largest federally recognized tribe in the United States and the second-largest Indian reservation in area.From the entry nation
  • Some tribes used to collect scalps to prove how many of the enemy they had killed in battle.From the entry scalp
  • The explorers wrote about the so-called uncivilized tribes.From the entry uncivilized
  • The Neotragini and Saigini are antilopine tribes.From the entry antilopine
  • The flowers in grasses of the tribe Chloridae are monostichous.From the entry monostichous
  • You don’t have to be a member of a tribe to help protect native languages.2025 June 19, Robert Collins, “Learning an Indigenous language in Oklahoma is a living link to tribal ancestors”, in The Oklahoman…. From the entry Chickasaw
  • There have been other encounters with uncontacted tribes in recent years.2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN. From the entry uncontacted
  • Ibogaine has historically been used in spiritual rituals by forest-dwelling tribes in Gabon for its mind-altering effects.2024 July 23, Oliver Barnes, “Google co-founder Brin backs biotech tapping psychedelic shrub for remedies”, in Financial Times, page 1. From the entry ibogaine
  • The Poarch Creek Indians is the only federally recognized tribe in Alabama.2024 October 15, “Poarch Creek Indians celebrate Indigenous People’s Day”, in Fox 10 News. From the entry Mvskoke
  • Out of 54 tribes, 15 had their base in the region.2024, “History of Jeonbuk State”, in Jeonbuk State, archived from the original on 11 Mar 2025. From the entry Jeonbuk
  • Remember, your vibe attracts your tribe and these days tribes gather on social media!2021, Calista, Unicorn Rising: Live Your Truth and Unleash Your Magic, page 212. From the entry your vibe attracts your tribe
  • It is also transindigenous, drawing together different tribes in a shared practice.2018, Lori Merish, “Mapping the Transnational in Contemporary Native American Fiction: Silko and Welch”, in Journal of Transnational…. From the entry transindigenous
  • This year, Wanjin Christmas Festival scattered in Wanjin village, Chishan village and Wulaluzi tribe.2017 January 11, “Thousands of People Crowded to Wanjin to Celebrate the Christmas”, in Ping Tung County Police Bureau [屏東縣政府警察局]…. From the entry Chishan
  • Amidst the conflicts in their place, these young people proved that communion is possible in their tribes.2017 June 21, “Youth Summer Engagement 2017”, in Bukal ng Tipan. From the entry gimong
  • It also seems apparent that he fought with the Red tribes against Germany.2016 [1924], Hermann Wieland, translated by Gregory Klanderud, Atlantis, Edda & Bible, Hermitage Helm, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 203. From the entry Lop Nur
  • Mandela is a Xhosa, an eastern Bantu tribe with some admixture of Bushman genes and language.2014, Edmond Furter, Mindprint, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 134. From the entry rainbow flag
  • His tribe was the A’aninin, more commonly known as the Gros Ventre.2013 May 4, Steve Chawkins, “George P. Horse Capture dies at 75; Native American curator”, in The Los Angeles Times. From the entry A'aninin
  • “You mean, like a tribe of fish-eyed monsters living down here?”2012, Andy Remic, Toxicity, Solaris, →ISBN. From the entry fish-eyed
  • These deeds done within the innangard of the tribe by its tribesmen are its law, its orlay.2011, Swain Wodening, The Sacred and the Holy. From the entry orlay
  • It was another way of being together, of expressing the tribe and each other.2011, Marge Piercy, Dance the Eagle to Sleep: A Novel, PM Press. From the entry dance out
  • They stood in relation to these various tribes as an Ur-Germanic people of remarkable size and prowess.2010, John D. Niles, Homo Narrans: The Poetics and Anthropology of Oral Literature. From the entry Ur-Germanic
  • Despite being regarded as outsiders, these Wahhabi radicals helped in jihadising the tribes in the frontier region.2008, India Today International, number 27, page 32. From the entry jihadise
  • The Wanchos are one of the major tribes of Arunachal Pradesh.2008, Asok Kumar Ray, Satyabrata Chakraborty, Society, Politics, and Development in North East India (page 63). From the entry Wancho
  • In his own studies he affirms, that the Hephthalites were Turkic-speaking Altaic tribes.2007, Adesh Katariya, Ancient History of Central Asia: Yuezhi origin Peoples, Adesh Katariya, page 158. From the entry Hephthalite
  • Instead of coming together as one beautiful tribe, the Haight was getting zooier.2006, Thomas L. Hartshorne, John H. Cary, Robert A. Wheeler, The Social Fabric, page 316. From the entry zooier
  • What Oliphant has meant tot tribes is that states have predecessory rights but tribes do not.2001, Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Anti-Indianism in Modern America: A Voice from Tatekeya's Earth, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 57. From the entry predecessory
  • Many Türkmen tribes adopted a pastoral economy, though some settled into villages as animal husbandmen.2000, James J. Reid, Crisis of the Ottoman Empire: Prelude to Collapse 1839–1878, Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, →ISBN, page 209. From the entry Türkmen
  • From the mid-fifth to the mid-sixth century Central Asia was ruled by the Hephthalite tribes.1999, B. A. Litvinsky, “6: The Hephthalite Empire”, in B. A. Litvinsky, Zhang Guang-Da, R. Shabani Samghabardi, editors, History of…. From the entry Hephthalite
  • Bentham notes that killing a Hallachore who touches a man of superior tribe isn't regarded as blameworthy.1998, Mark Tunick, Practices and Principles: Approaches to Ethical and Legal Judgment, →ISBN, page 72. From the entry halalcore

Meaning of tribe

  1. noun An ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes). The tribe is often the basis of ethnic identity.
  2. noun A tribal nation or people.
  3. noun A nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.

Full definition of tribe

Questions about tribe in a sentence

How do you use tribe in a sentence?
Tribe is used as a noun and verb. For example: “She found her tribe among fellow cross-stitchers.”
What is a short sentence with tribe?
“the Duchess tribe of shorthorns”
What does tribe mean?
Tribe means an ethnic group larger than a band or clan (and which may contain clans) but smaller than a nation (and which in turn may constitute a nation with other tribes). The tribe is often the basis of ethnic identity.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tribe (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use tribe in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/tribe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.