tribe
/tɹaɪb/
tribe 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.
Noun
tribe (plural tribes)
- 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.
- the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes
- The Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-state
- A 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
- A nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.
- A socially cohesive group of people within a society.
- Near-synonyms: nation; ingroup
- She found her tribe among fellow cross-stitchers.
- A class or group of things.
- In 1968, estimates of the number of active reprint publishers ranged from about 20 to 100 publishers. 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
- A group of apes who live and work together.
- A hierarchical rank between family and genus.
- The tempo of evolution in South American hamsters was very rapid – in the course of the Pliocene and Anthropocene 40 genera were formed here, at which time a series of them attained the level of tribe and subtribe (Oxymycteri, Phyllotiini, Ichthyomyini).1960, Doklady. Biological Sciences Sections, volumes 132–135, Washington, D.C.: American Institute of Biological Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 640, column 2
- This family includes the whole of the wellknown tribe of Pigeons and Doves.1868, David Meredith Reese, editor, (Please provide the book title or journal name), Barnes, page 184
- A species or group of similar species of animal.
- The cod may not improperly be placed at the head of the migrating or wandering tribe of fish.1808, G. L. Leclerc, Count de Buffon, Natural History of Birds, Fish, Insects and Reptiles, H.D. Symonds, The Cod
- If one wants to study the tribe of lions or the tribe of tigers, all that is necessary is to study one individual, for it has neither choice nor prerogative, but acts entirely according to the dictates of the group spirit2022, Max Heindel, Gleanings of a Mystic: A Series of Essays on Practical Mysticism
- A group of affiliated Mardi Gras Indians.
- A collective noun for various animals.
- A family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line.
- the Duchess tribe of shorthorns
Verb
tribe (third-person singular simple present tribes, present participle tribing, simple past and past participle tribed)
- To distribute into tribes or classes; to categorize.
- Our fowl, fish, and quadruped are well tribed.1696-1699, William Nicolson, English Historical Library
Proper noun capitalized: Tribe
Tribe (plural Tribes)
- A surname.
tribe meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
tribe in Hindi
- group of people
- जनजाति janjāti
tribe in Tamil
- குக்குலம், பழங்குடியினர், ஆதிவாசிகள், தொல்குடியினர், குலம், குழு
tribe in Marathi
- tribe, gang, band, troop
- टोळी ṭoḷī
tribe in Urdu
- group of people
- قَبِیلَہ qabīla, قَوم qaum, عَشِیرَہ 'aśīra
More languagesFewer languages
- tribe in Bengali
- উপজাতি upojati
- tribe in Telugu
- తెగ tega
- tribe in Malayalam
- ഗോത്രം gōtraṁ, കുലം kulaṁ
- tribe in Kannada
- ಬುಡಕಟ್ಟು, ಗಿರಿಜನ, ಆದಿವಾಸಿ ಕುಲ
- tribe in Punjabi
- ਕਬੀਲਾ kabīlā, قَبِیلَہ qabīlah
- tribe in Gujarati
- જાત jāt
- tribe in Odia
- ଜନଜାତି janajāti
- tribe in Sanskrit
- कुल kúla, गोत्र gotrá
- tribe in Sinhala
- ගෝත්ර gōtra
- tribe in Nepali
- जनजाति, जनजातिको
- tribe in Pashto
- قبيله qabila
- tribe in Tagalog
- tribo
- tribe in Arabic
- قَبِيلَة qabīla, عَشِيرَة ʕašīra, قَوْم qawm
- tribe in Malay
- suku, puak
- tribe in Indonesian
- suku, suku bangsa
- tribe in Thai
- เผ่า pào, ตระกูล dtrà-guun
- tribe in Vietnamese
- bộ lạc, bộ tộc
- tribe in Myanmar
- အမျိုးအနွယ် a.myui:a.nwai, အမျိုးဇာတ် a.myui:jat
Examples of tribe in a sentence
- 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:
- It is the most beautiful species among the whole tribe of goats; of various colours, black, white, of a faint bluish tinge, and of a shade somewhat lighter than a fawn.1842, The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Or, Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, volume 21, Tibet, page 256:
- The large head and high forehead, together with the assinine ears and tail, of the Hart-Beest, render it one of the least handsome of the whole tribe of Antelopes.1885, Thomas Bewick, Memorial Edition of Thomas Bewick's Works: A general history of quadrupeds, B. Quaritch, page 99:
- 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...
Synonyms of tribe
Forms of tribe
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | tribes |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | tribes |
| present participle | tribing |
| past participle | tribed |
| past | tribed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Tribes |
Origin of tribe
PIE word *tréyes From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus. Displaced native Old English hād (“tribe, group”).
Southern English surname of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Latin tribus.
Words formed from tribe
- criminal tribe
- Delaware Tribe of Indians
- Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma
- Grey Tribe
- hilltribe
- intertribe
- member of the tribe
- subtribe
- supertribe
- tribal
- tribalism
- tribalist
- tribalistic
- tribality
- tribally
- tribehood
- tribeless
- tribelet
- tribelike
- tribemate
- tribeship
- tribesman
- tribesmember
- tribespeople
- tribesperson
- tribeswoman
- undertribe
- your vibe attracts your tribe
Phrases with tribe
Words that rhyme with tribe
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about tribe
- 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.
- What is tribe in Hindi?
- Tribe in Hindi is जनजाति (janjāti). See Tribe meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use tribe in a sentence?
- 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.
- What part of speech is tribe?
- Tribe can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce tribe?
- Tribe is pronounced /tɹaɪb/.
- What is the plural of tribe?
- The plural of tribe is tribes.
Words near tribe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: tribe (page history and authors); Tribe (page history and authors); tribe (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); टोळी (Marathi) (page history and authors); കുലം (Malayalam) (page history and authors); tribe (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); જાત (Gujarati) (page history and authors); कुल (Sanskrit) (page history and authors); tribe (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: en-us-tribe.ogg.
Cite this entry: “tribe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tribe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.