us-and-them

adjective

Being or pertaining to a divisive belief whereby those outside one's immediate circle are regarded as enemies.

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Meanings

adjectiveus-and-them (not comparable)
  1. not comparableBeing or pertaining to a divisive belief whereby those outside one's immediate circle are regarded as enemies.

    […] one of the major concerns by staff is the lack of social contact with an SMT and an 'us and them' syndrome developing.

    1992, Jack Dunham, Stress in Teaching
    2 more examples

    Good football teams always have an us-and-them mentality; there are the 45 players and their coaches, and then there is everybody else.

    1987, New York Magazine

    We described above how a solution to the problem of interpersonal feuding has been to devolve such feuds to an authority such as the police. But what if the police behave in an us-and-them way?

    2006, Keith Oatley, Dacher Keltner, Jennifer M Jenkins, Understanding Emotions

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
them-and-us
Cite this entry
APA

us-and-them. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/us-and-them

MLA

“us-and-them.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/us-and-them. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “us-and-them,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/us-and-them.

Source: us-and-them on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.