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tribal

SayTRY-buhl/ˈtɹaɪbəl/

Noun pluraltribals

6 meanings of tribal

Practice

  1. 1
    adjective
    Having to do with a tribe or the people in it.

    Many tribal customs are passed down through generations.

    The museum displays tribal artifacts from across the continent.

    Note
  2. 2
    adjective
    Built around tribes as the main way that people are grouped.

    The region still follows a tribal system of leadership.

    Power was shared along tribal lines for centuries.

  3. 3
    adjective
    Using patterns or styles that come from a native people.

    She wore a dress with a bold tribal print.

    The band designed a logo around a swirling tribal pattern.

    Similarethnic

  4. 4
    nouncountable
    A pattern or picture inspired by native peoples, often worn as a tattoo.

    He got a tribal across his shoulder last summer.

    The artist specializes in bold tribals inked in black.

    Note
  5. 5
    nounIndiacountable
    A person who belongs to a tribe.

    The tribal guided visitors through the ancestral lands.

    Several tribals gathered for the harvest festival.

    Similartribesman

    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 6
    adjectiverarehistorical
    Having to do with how a whole group of living things changed over a very long time, not a single animal.

    Like tracing the long story of a whole group of animals, not just one animal's life.

    Early scientists studied the tribal history of whole animal groups.

    They compared tribal growth across the ages with the growth of one animal.

    Similarphylogenetic

    Oppositeontogenetic

    Note

Practice

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Origin

From Latin tribālis. It can be seen as tribe plus -al, and was first used in the 1630s.