Tribe Meaning
/tɹaɪb/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn 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.
nounA tribal nation or people.
Sentence Examples
Europeans tried to civilize the tribe.
That tribe worships its ancestors.
They were a nomadic horse-riding tribe.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The indigenous ____ lived in the forest and hunted animals for food to survive.
Word Origin & History
PIE word *tréyes From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The indigenous ____ lived in the forest and hunted animals for food to survive.