tribe

Pluraltribes

Formstribes, tribing, tribed

1. 1
   nouncountable

   An ethnic group larger than a band or clan but smaller than a nation, often forming the basis of shared identity.

   The tribe traced its origins to a single founding family.

   Several neighboring tribes joined together to form a nation.

   Similarpeople, clan

   Note

   The anthropologist's and historian's rung on a ladder of belonging: clans sit inside a tribe, and tribes can combine into a nation, as the title From Tribe to Nation-state suggests. The word came through Old French tribu from Latin tribus, which English also keeps as a separate word. It travels easily with peoples of the past and of scripture: the Twelve Tribes of Israel, Germanic tribes, Celtic tribes.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A socially cohesive group of people within a larger society, united by shared interests or identity.

   The startup felt less like a company and more like a tribe.

   Fans of the band consider themselves one big tribe with their own rituals.

   Similarcommunity, clan, family

   Note

   Descent drops out here: the word now covers any close-knit crowd held together by a shared passion. Sean Dooley's The Big Twitch (2005) turns it on twitchers, the obsessive birdwatchers, with affectionate irony: "I am terribly fond of the members of the tribe." Its nearest technical neighbor is ingroup, but tribe is warmer and more playful, which is why it suits fans, hobbyists and subcultures.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A nation or people that constitutes or identifies as a tribe.

   The tribe negotiated directly with the federal government.

   These tribes hold sovereign status under national law.

   Similarnation, people

   Note

   Here the word stretches by synecdoche from the social unit of the anthropologist's sense to the whole people who make it up. Used this way it can grade peoples by size: Cyrus Thomas's Indian Languages of Mexico and Central America (1911) speaks of "small tribes, or subtribes," naming the Teule, Cazcan, and Tecuexe.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   A class or group of things considered together as one kind.

   The museum displayed an entire tribe of antique clocks.

   Sedans, trucks, and vans all belong to the same tribe of road vehicles.

   Similarclass, family, group, category

5. 5
   nounderogatorycolloquialcountable

   A derogatory term for a nation or people regarded as culturally primitive, as once said of some peoples in Africa, Australia, or the Americas.

   An old textbook described the natives as a primitive tribe untouched by progress.

   Settlers wrote home about the savage tribes beyond the frontier.

   Note

   The insult comes less from the word than from the frame around it. Tribe set beside primitive or savage, and applied to peoples of Africa, Australia or Native America, ranks them below a supposed civilized norm. The same noun is neutral in the anthropologist's sense, so the danger lies in the company it keeps. Where condescension could be read in, a people's own name, or simply people or nation, is the safer choice.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   In biological classification, a rank positioned between family and genus.

   The botanist assigned the genus to a newly defined tribe.

   The family is divided into five tribes, each containing several genera.

   Note

   Taxonomy slots this rank between family and genus, and divides it further into subtribes when finer grouping is needed. Tribe names are recognizable by their endings: in zoology they typically end in -ini, as with the South American hamster tribe Phyllotiini, while botanical tribes end in -eae.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   In animal breeding, a family of animals that trace their descent through the female line back to one particular female ancestor.

   The breeder kept records of each tribe descended from his foundation mares.

   Two tribes of cattle on the ranch share a single ancestral dam.

   Similarfamily, line, lineage, bloodline

   Note

   Stock breeders trace this kind of tribe through the dam's side only: every member descends, mother to daughter, from one foundation female, and the line can carry her name, as in the Duchess tribe of shorthorns. A bull belongs to his mother's tribe but cannot pass it on, which makes this a pedigree term rather than a loose word for a herd.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A collective noun used for certain groups of animals, such as goats.

   A tribe of goats scrambled up the rocky slope.

   We watched a noisy tribe of monkeys move through the trees.

   Similarherd, troop, flock

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A group of apes that live and work together as one unit.

   The researchers tracked a tribe of chimpanzees through the forest.

   Two tribes of apes competed for the same feeding ground.

   Similartroop, band, group

   Note

   Zoologists use the word for a real social unit: apes that stay together, forage and travel as one group, with stable membership over time. That sets it apart from the collective noun for animals, which is a naming convention for a gathering rather than a claim about how the animals organize their lives.

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A group of affiliated Mardi Gras Indians, the Black New Orleans maskers who parade in elaborate handmade suits.

    The tribe spent all year sewing their beaded suits for Mardi Gras.

    Several tribes gathered uptown on Mardi Gras morning.

11. 11
    verbtransitive

    To divide people or things into tribes or classes; to categorize them.

    Early naturalists tribe organisms according to shared traits.

    The committee tribed the proposals into three categories.

    Similarclassify, categorize, group, sort

    Note

    The verb takes its object directly and reads most naturally as a past participle: William Nicolson's English Historical Library (1696–1699) says "Our fowl, fish, and quadruped are well tribed," meaning neatly sorted into classes. It inflects regularly (tribes, tribing, tribed) and sits close to the taxonomic rank, since sorting creatures into groups is exactly what it describes.

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