Clannish

adj

adj ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective

1
Of or related to a clan.
2
Socially exclusive.
"Gendrot describes a “clannish” system that ensures officers close ranks to protect their own, leading to a sense of impunity."

Adjective

1
befitting or characteristic of those who incline to social exclusiveness and who rebuff the advances of people considered inferior wordnet
2
characteristic of a clan especially in being unified wordnet

Synonyms

arrogant clanny clanny cliquey cliquish cliquish

Example

"Gendrot describes a “clannish” system that ensures officers close ranks to protect their own, leading to a sense of impunity."

Etymology

From clan + -ish.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.