: a narrow exclusive circle or group of persons
especially
: one held together by common interests, views, or purposes
high school cliques
cliquishly
adverb
cliquishness
noun
variants
or less commonly cliqueish
1
: tending toward narrow exclusiveness or to form a clique
cliquish attitudes developed among children coming from the fashionable west side
newly arrived immigrants tend to be cliquish for a while
2
: marked by a tendency to divide into cliques
ballet companies by reputation are … cliquish—
Al Hine
Al Hine
cliquishly
adverb
Cliquishly removed from everyone else, these four misshapen heroes maintained their mutual connection through ironic code …
—Frazier Moore, Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times, 8 Oct. 2001
Frazier Moore, Portsmouth (Ohio) Daily Times, 8 Oct. 2001
cliquishness
noun
There is a slight sense of Southern cliquishness—understandable, I suppose, in a Virginia magazine, and not so hard to take when it involves the likes of Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor and Peter Taylor.
—Daniel Stern, New York Times Book Review, 19 Jan. 1986
Daniel Stern, New York Times Book Review, 19 Jan. 1986
Examples of clique in a Sentence
Noun
that clique refuses to even talk to outsiders at their lunch table
Recent Examples on the Web
Sophie Lou Wilson,
Vogue,
2 July 2026
Shen wondered whether there was a random model that could produce clique-free colorings more efficiently than Erdős’ approach.
—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
26 June 2026
Social rescue arrives in the form of outgoing cool girl Sonya (Molloy), who takes a shine to Coley after a chance encounter in a coffee shop, and invites her to join her clique.
—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
17 June 2026
Under Meza, player cliques developed, stars were pampered, discipline waned.
—
Scott M. Reid,
Oc Register,
10 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for clique
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Noun
Since its inception, social media has been a proving ground for tween fashion and identity, offering under-16s a digital canvas to experiment with their style and form online cliques around niche interests.
—
Sophie Lou Wilson,
Vogue,
2 July 2026
Shen wondered whether there was a random model that could produce clique-free colorings more efficiently than Erdős’ approach.
—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
26 June 2026
Social rescue arrives in the form of outgoing cool girl Sonya (Molloy), who takes a shine to Coley after a chance encounter in a coffee shop, and invites her to join her clique.
—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
17 June 2026
Under Meza, player cliques developed, stars were pampered, discipline waned.
—
Scott M. Reid,
Oc Register,
10 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for clique
Cite this Entry
“Clique.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clique. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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