clan
Americannoun
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a group of families or households, as among the Scottish Highlanders, the heads of which claim descent from a common ancestor.
the Mackenzie clan.
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a group of people of common descent; family.
Our whole clan got together for Thanksgiving.
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a group of people, as a clique, set, society, or party, especially as united by some common trait, characteristic, or interest.
a clan of actors and directors.
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Anthropology.
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the principal social unit of tribal organization, in which descent is reckoned exclusively in either the paternal or the maternal line.
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a group of people regarded as being descended from a common ancestor.
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noun
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a group of people interrelated by ancestry or marriage
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a group of families with a common surname and a common ancestor, acknowledging the same leader, esp among the Scots and the Irish
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a group of people united by common characteristics, aims, or interests
Other Word Forms
- clanless adjective
- interclan adjective
- subclan noun
Etymology
Origin of clan
1375–1425; late Middle English ( Scots ) < Scots Gaelic clann < Old Irish cland offspring < Latin planta scion, plant, perhaps directly < British Celtic; compare Welsh plant children
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Pawbert, who doesn’t fit in with his family, agrees that there’s been a big coverup that has aided his clan at the expense of the snakes.
It is the second time this year a clan has saved a south Scotland church this year.
From BBC
Historic Assynt, which helps to look after the former seat of clan MacLeod of Assynt, said it had only recently been able to repair the wall after it was damaged a few months ago.
From BBC
Like that earlier work, “The Thanksgiving Visitor” is also drawn from Capote’s boyhood within a clan of eccentric relatives that included an older cousin and mother figure known as Sook.
Surveyors interviewed people face to face on the Hamas side of the cease-fire dividing line as the militant group was engaging in battles with armed clans and carrying out public executions.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
