ENGLISH
REFERENCE

tribal

adj.
C1 Advanced Oxford US //ˈtɹaɪbəɫ// UK //tɹˈaɪbəl// trib·al Archaic

adj. relating to a group of people who share the same language, history, and culture. It can also describe strong loyalty to your own social or political group.

adj. relating to a tribe or tribes; in modern social contexts, it describes strong group loyalty or partisan behavior that prioritizes one's own group over others.


SIMPLE

The museum displays many ancient tribal masks.

CONTEXTUAL

Modern politics often feels very tribal, with people refusing to listen to anyone outside their own social circle.

COMPLEX

While the study initially focused on ancient migration patterns, it eventually addressed how tribal identities continue to shape the geopolitical landscape of the region today.

Origin

From Latin tribālis. By surface analysis, tribe + -al, first attested in the 1630s. The specific adjectival sense under the defunct theory of recapitulation derives from tribal history as an overly literal learned borrowing from German Stammesgeschichte; ordinarily, Stamm would only be translated as tribe when used in its ethnographic sense.

Usage

Typically used before a noun to modify it; in modern sociological contexts, it often carries a slightly critical tone regarding group bias.

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