tribe
/tɹaɪb/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.12 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
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
A nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.
Derogatory; Informal
noun
A group of apes who live and work together.
noun
A hierarchical rank between family and genus.
Example Sentences
- "the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes"
- "The Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-state"
- "If two persons bore the same name, […] ambiguity was avoided by […] indicating their place of origin, the name of the tribe or deme being added for persons of the same town […], and the name of the country or town for foreigners […]."
- "There have been other encounters with uncontacted tribes in recent years. In February, a young man from an isolated Indigenous tribe in Brazil made brief contact with the outside world before returning to the Amazon rainforest."
- "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."
- "Near-synonyms: nation; ingroup"