tribe

plural tribes

1. anthropologyAn 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 Formation of Kazakh Identity: From Tribe to Nation-state

   3 more examples

   the Twelve Tribes of Israel; Germanic tribes; Celtic tribes

   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 […].

   1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xiii

   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.

   2025 April 4, Lex Harvey and Esha Mitra, “US tourist arrested after allegedly attempting to contact ‘world’s most isolated’ tribe”, in CNN

2. 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

3. derogatoryinformalA nation or people considered culturally primitive, as may be the case in Africa, Australia or Native America.
4. A socially cohesive group of people within a society.

   Near-synonyms: nation; ingroup

   2 more examples

   She found her tribe among fellow cross-stitchers.

   The thought of spending a year in close company with twitchers chilled me to the core. 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

   Synonyms: nation, ingroup

5. 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

6. biologyA hierarchical rank between family and genus.

   Almost all the tribe of antelopes are of a gentle and social nature.

   1870, Delabere Pritchett Blaine, An Encyclopedia of Rural Sports, Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, page 53

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   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

   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, page 208

7. 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

   1 more example

   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 spirit

   2022, Max Heindel, Gleanings of a Mystic: A Series of Essays on Practical Mysticism

8. A group of affiliated Mardi Gras Indians.
9. A collective noun for various animals.
10. stock breedingA family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line.

    the Duchess tribe of shorthorns

present singular third person tribes · participle present tribing · participle past tribed · past tribed

1. transitiveTo distribute into tribes or classes; to categorize.

   1696-1699, William Nicolson, English Historical Library Our fowl, fish, and quadruped are well tribed.

plural Tribes

1. A surname.