1
as in communities
a group of people sharing a common interest and relating together socially
that clan of football fans has parties every weekend on which the New England Patriots play
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in tribes
a group of persons who come from the same ancestor
the whole clan gets together only for holidays
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of clans
Ten clans or more gather at the end of the movie.
—
Ingrid Schmidt, HollywoodReporter, 4 Feb. 2026
Some of those clans have since dwindled or decamped for more populated areas.
—Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026
This area has people traveling from New England and the western United States to represent their clans.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
For example, Crow people have held onto their nation's language; neighbors are often family, or considered such; and many tribal members rely on their clans to mentor children, who eventually become mentors themselves for the next generation.
—Katheryn Houghton, NPR, 8 Jan. 2026
But when Klaus’ toys begin to cheer up the children of Smeerensburg — a town whose inhabitants are perpetually engaged in a feud between two familial clans — Jesper and Klaus must step out of their comfort zones to help save the town from itself.
—Andrew Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Dec. 2025
Established in 1993, PFV offered the most revered clans in the industry the opportunity to exchange information and insights with the goal of safeguarding their heritage.
—Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 27 Dec. 2025
Plaids and checks belonging to the Campbell, MacKenzie, and Douglass clans popped up in coats, gowns, and children’s garments while tartan became a mainstay of British and American interiors.
—Cornelia Powers, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2025
The Toupouri fled to the Tekem mountains in Chad, where each of its twelve summits was settled by one of the Toupouri clans—a perfect match as the refugees happened to have exactly twelve clans.
—Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
Ingrid Schmidt, HollywoodReporter, 4 Feb. 2026
Some of those clans have since dwindled or decamped for more populated areas.
—Rachel Monroe, New Yorker, 21 Jan. 2026
This area has people traveling from New England and the western United States to represent their clans.
—Patrick Connolly, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Jan. 2026
For example, Crow people have held onto their nation's language; neighbors are often family, or considered such; and many tribal members rely on their clans to mentor children, who eventually become mentors themselves for the next generation.
—Katheryn Houghton, NPR, 8 Jan. 2026
But when Klaus’ toys begin to cheer up the children of Smeerensburg — a town whose inhabitants are perpetually engaged in a feud between two familial clans — Jesper and Klaus must step out of their comfort zones to help save the town from itself.
—Andrew Walsh, Entertainment Weekly, 29 Dec. 2025
Established in 1993, PFV offered the most revered clans in the industry the opportunity to exchange information and insights with the goal of safeguarding their heritage.
—Mike Desimone, Robb Report, 27 Dec. 2025
Plaids and checks belonging to the Campbell, MacKenzie, and Douglass clans popped up in coats, gowns, and children’s garments while tartan became a mainstay of British and American interiors.
—Cornelia Powers, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2025
The Toupouri fled to the Tekem mountains in Chad, where each of its twelve summits was settled by one of the Toupouri clans—a perfect match as the refugees happened to have exactly twelve clans.
—Literary Hub, 5 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clans
Noun
-
Some religious communities bar menstruating women from common living areas, said Ahsan.—
Sana Noor Haq,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
-
Participants often come from various backgrounds, playing different styles of mahjong, such as Taiwanese, Filipino, Singaporean and American (commonly associated with Jewish communities), which — unlike other the styles — uses a card that is issued annually to set the winning hands for each year.—
Grace Hwang Lynch,
Mercury News,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
That's eight different categories, three tribes of 24.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Feb. 2026
-
The pact with Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes had allowed for a pause in the litigation.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
7 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
These elements are vital to electric vehicles, wind turbines, smartphones, medical imaging systems, fiber-optic networks, and military technologies.—
Neetika Walter,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Feb. 2026
-
The totals announced on Tuesday included viewership from the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, Peacock, NBC Sports Digital and NFL+.—
Brian Stelter,
CNN Money,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
For Sokolowski, the magnitude of the threat urgently requires more awareness and intervention both by law enforcement as well as health care workers, teachers and families.—
Curt Devine,
CNN Money,
10 Feb. 2026
-
San Francisco public schools shut down on Monday as teachers went on strike demanding improved healthcare benefits and pay raises, leaving the families of some 50,000 students scrambling for child care and meals.—
Christopher Buchanan,
Los Angeles Times,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
This graph had no cliques — clusters of nodes that are all connected to one another.—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
28 Jan. 2026
-
What began as a search for community and understanding turned into an experience that felt akin to the cliques and social hierarchies of high school.—
Hannah Nwoko,
Parents,
25 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
There are signs that lawmakers in both parties see the benefits of taking steps to add houses before this year's elections.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Sixty-five warming spaces — located at hospitals, houses of worship and schools — are active around town throughout the weekend, with warming buses also parked outside many of the hospitals and also transit hubs.—
Nicholas Williams,
New York Daily News,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Located some 60 miles north of Los Angeles near the city of Lancaster, California, Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve draws crowds from mid-February through early May to marvel at this state park’s California poppies.—
Cu Fleshman,
Travel + Leisure,
8 Feb. 2026
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This weekend, Super Bowl crowds are descending on San Francisco for the first time in ten years—and the timing couldn’t be more apt.—
Julia Black,
Vanity Fair,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The year is 1961, and the jazz legend (played flawlessly by Norway’s Anders Danielsen Lie) is firmly in the grip of a raging heroin addiction, having acquired a taste for the destructive street drug made inexplicably romantic in postwar boho circles.—
Damon Wise,
Deadline,
13 Feb. 2026
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The experiment caused a stir among economists and political scientists and people in finance and business circles.—
Suzy Khimm,
NBC news,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Clans.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clans. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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