TRIBE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does tribe mean? 

• TRIBE (noun)
  The noun TRIBE has 4 senses:

1. a social division of (usually preliterate) people

2. a federation (as of American Indians)

3. (biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily

4. group of people related by blood or marriage

  Familiarity information: TRIBE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRIBE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A social division of (usually preliterate) people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

folk; tribe

Hypernyms ("tribe" is a kind of...):

social group (people sharing some social relation)

Meronyms (members of "tribe"):

moiety (one of two basic subdivisions of a tribe)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tribe"):

phyle (a tribe of ancient Athenians)

Derivation:

tribal (relating to or characteristic of a tribe)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A federation (as of American Indians)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

federation of tribes; tribe

Hypernyms ("tribe" is a kind of...):

nation (a federation of tribes (especially Native American tribes))

Meronyms (members of "tribe"):

Maya; Mayan (a member of an American Indian people of Yucatan and Belize and Guatemala who had a culture (which reached its peak between AD 300 and 900) characterized by outstanding architecture and pottery and astronomy)

Nahuatl (a member of any of various Indian peoples of central Mexico)

Olmec (a member of an early Mesoamerican civilization centered around Veracruz that flourished between 1300 and 400 BC)

Domain region:

America; the States; U.S.; U.S.A.; United States; United States of America; US; USA (North American republic containing 50 states - 48 conterminous states in North America plus Alaska in northwest North America and the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean; achieved independence in 1776)

Derivation:

tribal (relating to or characteristic of a tribe)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("tribe" is a kind of...):

taxon; taxonomic category; taxonomic group (animal or plant group having natural relations)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tribe"):

Bovini; tribe Bovini (term not used technically; essentially coextensive with genus Bos)

Bambuseae; tribe Bambuseae (bamboos)

Holonyms ("tribe" is a member of...):

family ((biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more genera)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Group of people related by blood or marriage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

clan; kin; kin group; kindred; kinship group; tribe

Hypernyms ("tribe" is a kind of...):

social group (people sharing some social relation)

Meronyms (members of "tribe"):

relation; relative (a person related by blood or marriage)

clan member; clansman; clanswoman (a member of a clan)

tribesman (someone who lives in a tribe)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tribe"):

mishpachah; mishpocha ((Yiddish) the entire family network of relatives by blood or marriage (and sometimes close friends))

family; family unit (primary social group; parents and children)

folks (your parents)

family tree; genealogy (successive generations of kin)

totem (a clan or tribe identified by their kinship to a common totemic object)

Tribes of Israel; Twelve Tribes of Israel (twelve kin groups of ancient Israel each traditionally descended from one of the twelve sons of Jacob)

Derivation:

tribal (relating to or characteristic of a tribe)

 Context examples 

The chief of these we called Mojo, after his tribe, and the others are known as Jose and Fernando.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And the next day I saw Ivan lead them upon the trail of the tribe.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

And finally, on the balance remaining to him, he herded the whole Silva tribe down into Oakland.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

On the whole, it was probably some creature of the weasel and stoat tribe—and yet it is larger than any of these that I have seen.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A legal battle over a 10,600-year-old ancient skeleton – called the ‘Spirit Cave Mummy’ – has ended after advanced DNA sequencing found it was related to a Native American tribe.

(Ancient DNA analysis unlocks secrets of Ice Age tribes in the Americas, University of Cambridge)

I have just one word to say of the whole tribe; they are a nuisance.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This tribe marries only among each other, and the eldest in succession is prince or governor.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The term comprises individuals belonging to a large number of tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of them still enduring as political communities.

(Native American, NCI Thesaurus)

The term includes individuals belonging to a large number of tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of them still enduring as communities.

(American Indian, NCI Thesaurus)

A few minutes later the remainder of the tribe, strung out as it was on the march, trailed in.

(White Fang, by Jack London)