clique

plural cliques · alternative click

1. A small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic such as lifestyle or social status, or common purpose; specifically one formed for disreputable purposes, or which purports to be an authority on a particular matter; a cabal.

   Near-synonyms: circle, faction, gang

   4 more examples

   This school used to be really friendly, but now everyone keeps to their own cliques.

   It is sufficient to state, that the Royal Academy […] has excluded and persecuted many of the greatest we possess, and that at the moment, sixty-five years after its establishment, our greatest living artists, with scarcely any exceptions, have not been educated at an academy, intended of course to educate genius, even more than to support it afterwards! With the assumption of a public body, it has combined the exclusiveness of a private clique.

   1833, Edward Lytton Bulwer [i.e., Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The State of the Arts”, in England and the English […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […] (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, 4th book (View of the Intellectual Spirit of the Time), page 205

   Choose well your set; our feeble nature seeks / The aid of clubs, the countenance of cliques; […]

   1846 October 14 (date delivered), Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], Urania: A Rhymed Lesson. […], Boston, Mass.: William D[avis] Ticknor & Company, published 1846, →OCLC, page 18

   There had been talk of some disagreement about a picture, but in Sir Maxwell's experience, artists frequently disagreed about pictures, with no more consequences than a little cold-shouldering or the formation of a clique.

   1931, Dorothy L[eigh] Sayers, “Farren”, in The Five Red Herrings, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 61

   Synonyms: camp, coterie, inner circle, circle, faction, gang

2. broadlygraph theoryA subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph.

   The problem of finding the largest clique in an arbitrary graph is NP-complete.

   Antonyms: independent set

3. InternetbroadlyA group of related websites that link to each other, like a webring but with exclusive membership determined by the clique owner.

   Does anyone know what an internet clique is/does? I came across a few and am thoroughly confused.

   1999 January 3, Jackie, “[S]omeone help me out?”, in alt.fan.leo-dicaprio (Usenet)

   2 more examples

   [E]ven though we're not "regulars" anymore…*sniffle*…we still can't forget the NG [newsgroup]…i always tell new fans about it…(people who join my clique, etc…)…and besides…i owe the NG a LOT…itz where i met my best friend…

   2000 August 16, - deanna -, “ot: hiya”, in alt.fan.backstreet.boys (Usenet)

   [Y]ou always have to click some big section and you get a whole new set of options in a different frame, thats^([sic]) usually on the other side of the screen. when you're there, you can choose from (in a section site stuff or something like that) link me, link you, links, top 10 links, free for all links, cliques, and webrings.

   2001 May 28, spee2k, “[F]uture [N]o [D]oubt website…”, in alt.music.no-doubt (Usenet)

4. ChinabroadlyhistoricalAn informal faction in the Republic of China (1912–1949) led by one or more warlords exercising regional control through local armed forces (particularly during the Warlord Era); a regional junta.

   And, in this year, Wu Peifu, by defeating the Fengtian Clique in the Zhili-Fengtian Clique War, also reached the zenith of his power and influence.

   2022, Vivienne Xiangwei Guo, “The Beginning of the End: Wu Peifu and Good Government”, in Negotiating a Chinese Federation: The Exchange of Ideas and Political Collaborations between China’s Men of Guns and Men of Letters, 1919–1923 (Ideas, History, and Modern China; 28), Leiden, South Holland; Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 143

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   In the South, too, due either to direct or indirect machinations by imperialism, there mushroomed many cliques and factions which fought against one another; in the provinces, small cliques and factions within big ones were also struggling against one another.

   1954, Tsjenn Po-ta [i.e., Chen Boda], chapter 2, in [anonymous], transl., Notes on Ten Years of Civil War (1927–1936), Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 42

   Within the military, the Kwangsi clique of Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi were openly opposed to Chiang [Kai-shek]'s policies; while Ho Ying-ch'in and others were ambivalent.

   1976, Donald A. Jordan, “Taking the Expedition into North China”, in The Northern Expedition: China’s National Revolution of 1926–1928, Honolulu, Hi.: The University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, part 2 (The Military Conquest of Warlord China), page 137

   The [Fengtian] Clique’s goal was not to conquer China but first to preserve its position in Manchuria and then to establish itself as one of the national leaders through war, alliance forming, seeking foreign recognition, and building up political authority.

   2017, Chi Man Kwong, “The Fengtian Clique’s Strategies and Their Failure, 1925–1931”, in War and Geopolitics in Interwar Manchuria: Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian Clique during the Northern Expedition (Studies on Modern East Asian History; 1), Leiden, South Holland: Brill, →ISBN, page 90

1. Alternative letter-case form of Clique (ellipsis of Skeleton Clique (“the fan base of the American band Twenty One Pilots”)).

   The Skeleton Clique, often referred to as just 'the clique,' is what members of the Twenty One Pilots fandom have dubbed themselves. The clique enjoys the band because their songs typically have a deeper meaning and are easy to connect to.

   2016 October 26, Catherine Wiesehuegel, “Skeleton Clique Shows Support for Twenty One Pilots”, in The Horizon, Austin, Tex.: Westwood Student Press, Westwood High School, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2025

present singular third person cliques · participle present cliquing · participle past cliqued · past cliqued

1. Often followed by together.
   1. informalintransitiveTo form a clique (“small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic”; noun sense 1); to associate with others in a clannish way.

      I don't want you kids cliquing together. I'll be the one to pick the teams this time, […]

      2017, D. D. [Deandrea] Myrick, “Show Me What You’re Made of … Mckintower!!!!”, in Trudy Mackintower & the Originals (First Day of School; 1), [Scotts Valley, Calif.]: Deandrea Myrick; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, →ISBN, page 52

      3 more examples

      [N]o unkind feeling should exist in the profession, for this never puts a penny more into a man's pocket; and […] that injurious system of cliquing together should be put a stop to, […]

      1843 September 28, George French Flowers, “The Contrapuntist’s Society [letter to the editor]”, in [George Macfarren], editor, The Musical World, volume XVIII, number 39, London: E. B. Taylor […], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 326, column 3

      [Benjamin Robert Haydon] first discovered the true value, the inestimable worth of the Elgin marbles. We may almost describe him as the discoverer of the Elgin marbles. Lord Elgin [Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin], it is true, first discovered them in Athens, but they were re-interred in Britain, in the mire of London ignorance—commercial, trading, jobbing, cliquing London. The Academies could not find them out—the public taste, alas! including the Court, preferred Vauxhall, and the Lord Mayor's show— […]

      1845 July 5, [Robert] Knox, “On the Supposed Advantages of a Knowledge of Anatomy to the Artist. II.–Haydon.”, in The Medical Times: A Journal of English and Foreign Medicine, and Miscellany of Medical Affairs, volume XII, number 302, London: J. Angerstein Carfrae, […], →OCLC, page 265, column 3

      Signor [Giovanni] Dupré […] by no means came in through the academy gate, but rose from the position of a mere woodcarving workman, and was not a little cliqued against by the regular students […]

      1884 August 29, “Thoughts on Art”, in The Pall Mall Budget: Being a Weekly Collection of Articles Printed in the Pall Mall Gazette from Day to Day: […], volume XXXII, number 831, London: […] Richard Lambert, […], →OCLC, page 28, column 1

   2. informalintransitivespecificallyTo act with others secretly to gain a desired end; to plot, to scheme.

alternative clique

1. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of the Skeleton Clique (“the fan base of the American band Twenty One Pilots”).

   The Skeleton Clique, often referred to as just 'the clique,' is what members of the Twenty One Pilots fandom have dubbed themselves. The clique enjoys the band because their songs typically have a deeper meaning and are easy to connect to.

   2016 October 26, Catherine Wiesehuegel, “Skeleton Clique Shows Support for Twenty One Pilots”, in The Horizon, Austin, Tex.: Westwood Student Press, Westwood High School, archived from the original on 24 Oct 2025