clique
noun
a small, exclusive group of people; coterie; set.
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.
“There’s a lot of norm-building, a lot of cliquishness, a lot of jockeying for status,” Jaana Juvonen, a developmental psychologist at U.C.L.A., explained.
From The New Yorker ● Oct. 14, 2019
The last week has been, if nothing else, a good warning to all of us about the pitfalls of cliquishness in the indie dev scene and among the reporters who cover it.
From Forbes ● Sep. 4, 2014
The other expats he meets seem uniformly obnoxious, particularly those connected with A Small World, an invitation-only networking group that goes global with the cliquishness of high school.
From Slate ● May 5, 2012
But there wasn’t much cliquishness in this band, or any agenda beyond the spark of present-tense interaction.
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2010
Certain it is that they have offended by their exclusiveness; by the narrowing down of interest; by the cliquishness of those who are specialists in piety or ritual.
From Personality in Literature by Rolfe Arnold Scott-James
