as in ethnic
of, relating to, or reflecting the traits exhibited by a group of people with a common ancestry and culture a tribal solidarity that transcends all other loyalties or bonds

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of tribal These treaties established tribal reservations and secured some Indigenous rights to resources and land. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, The Conversation, 15 Sep. 2025 In a new study published in Antiquity, researchers from Cambridge and Nottingham examined a 16-feet sediment core from Aldborough in Yorkshire, an important center of metal production located at a former Roman tribal town of Brigantes. Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 14 Sep. 2025 Recent updates to federal law closed those loopholes and strengthened tribal authority to make decisions regarding the return of their ancestors. Melissa Olson, Twin Cities, 14 Sep. 2025 Citizens, environmental groups and tribal stakeholders are demoralized by this and the prioritization of industrial logging, embrace of pseudoscience, non-transparency, poor responsiveness to public and expert comments, and meetings held while stakeholders are at work. John P. O’Brien, Mercury News, 13 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for tribal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for tribal
Adjective
  • Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups officially recognized by Myanmar and are denied full citizenship.
    Esha Mitra, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Participants were mostly White; results may not apply equally across all racial and ethnic groups.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Lisa Lake/Getty Images for MoveOn Ben & Jerry's has become known for more than its ice cream, garnering publicity for championing a number of social causes relating to climate change, racial justice and immigration.
    Hugh Cameron Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Sep. 2025
  • Attiah then suggested that her firing was just another part of a racial purge.
    Brady Knox, The Washington Examiner, 16 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • Genocide is defined as attempting to partly or wholly destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
    Ellie Cook Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Sep. 2025
  • The United Nations broadly defines genocide as seriously harming or killing members of a group with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
    Kathryn Watson, CBS News, 12 Apr. 2022

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Cite this Entry

“Tribal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tribal. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.

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