tribal
/ˈtɹaɪbəl/
tribal adjective: of or relating to tribes.
Adjective
tribal (comparative more tribal, superlative most tribal)
- Of or relating to tribes.
- social order through tribal law
- ‘What has he done?’ ‘Oh, killed a few natives. That wouldn’t count so much if it was all ‘tribal’; but he’s ‘gone cheeky’ and threatens wholesale murder. My job is to grab him before he slaughters more.’1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 46
- Based on or organized according to tribes.
- a tribal society
- Phylogenic.
- tribal history
- Incorporating designs or styles typical of an indigenous people.
- tribal techno music
- a purse with a tribal design
Noun
tribal (plural tribals)
- A design or image that has been influenced by indigenous peoples; especially such a tattoo.
- A member of a tribe.
- This right had been accepted by relative tribals but misobeyed and effaced by non-tribals and foreign peasants.1983, Human Science: Journal of the Anthropological Survey of India, page 141
- […] the legendary Adivasi leader Jaipal Singh Munda who came to represent the tribals not just of his native plateau, but also of all of India […]2018, Vaijayanta Anand, Geeta Balakrishnan, Purnima George, Community Practices in India: Lessons from the Grassroots, page 66
tribal meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
tribal in Hindi
- आदिवासी, जनजातीय
tribal in Tamil
- பழங்குடி
tribal in Marathi
- आदिवासी
tribal in Urdu
- قبائلی
More languagesFewer languages
- tribal in Bengali
- উপজাতীয়, বর্গীয়, গণীভূত
- tribal in Telugu
- గిరిజనం
- tribal in Malayalam
- ഗോത്രപരമായ, വംശീയമായ, ജാതിയുടേതായ
- tribal in Punjabi
- ਕਬਾਇਲੀ, ਆਦਿਵਾਸੀ
- tribal in Gujarati
- આદિવાસી
- tribal in Odia
- ଆଦିବାସୀ
- tribal in Nepali
- आदिवासी
- tribal in Arabic
- قَبَلِيّ qabaliyy
Examples of tribal in a sentence
- The Yellow Emperor was perhaps euhemerized from a prehistoric tribal leader.
- The group successfully maintains its tribal entity.
- The various tribal chieftains met each spring to elect an overlord that would lead them in time of war.
Forms of tribal
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more tribal |
| superlative | most tribal |
| Noun | |
| plural | tribals |
Origin of tribal
From Latin tribālis. By surface analysis, tribe + -al, first attested in the 1630s. The specific adjectival sense under the defunct theory of recapitulation derives from tribal history as an overly literal learned borrowing from German Stammesgeschichte; ordinarily, Stamm would only be translated as tribe when used in its ethnographic sense.
Words formed from tribal
Phrases with tribal
Words that rhyme with tribal
Questions about tribal
- What does tribal mean?
- Tribal means of or relating to tribes.
- What is tribal in Hindi?
- Tribal in Hindi is आदिवासी, जनजातीय. See Tribal meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is tribal?
- Tribal can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce tribal?
- Tribal is pronounced /ˈtɹaɪbəl/ (UK).
Words near tribal in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tribal (page history and authors); tribal (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tribal (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tribal (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tribal (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tribal (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tribal (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tribal (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); tribal (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tribal (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tribal (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tribal (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tribal.wav.
Cite this entry: “tribal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tribal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.