What does "tribal" mean?

1. (relating to a tribe) relating to a group of people who share the same language, history, and customs. 2. (group loyalty) showing very strong loyalty to your own group, especially in politics. 3. (design style) using patterns or styles that look like traditional art from indigenous people. 4. (member of a tribe) a person who belongs to a tribe.

How do you use "tribal"?

Commonly used in Indian English to refer to members of Scheduled Tribes.

tribal

adj. · n.

US //ˈtɹaɪbəɫ// UK //tɹˈaɪbəl// trib·al

1 relating to a tribe (adj.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

relating to a group of people who share the same language, history, and customs.

relating to or characteristic of a tribe or tribes as a social unit.

Example

The museum has a large collection of tribal masks from West Africa.

Example

The researchers spent years documenting the tribal customs and oral histories of the indigenous communities in the Amazon basin.
- ethnic
- communal
2 group loyalty (adj.)
C1 Advanced Academic

showing very strong loyalty to your own group, especially in politics.

characterized by strong, often unquestioning loyalty to one's own social or political group.

Example

Modern politics can feel very tribal when people refuse to listen to other views.

Example

The rise of social media has intensified tribal divisions, making it increasingly difficult for citizens to find common ground on national issues.
- partisan
- clannish
- universal
- impartial

Show 2 more sensesShow fewer

3 design style (adj.)
B2 Upper Intermediate

using patterns or styles that look like traditional art from indigenous people.

incorporating aesthetic designs or motifs associated with indigenous or traditional cultures.

Example

He decided to get a tribal tattoo on his upper arm.

Example

The fashion designer's latest collection features bold tribal patterns inspired by traditional textiles from the South Pacific.
- traditional
- folk
- modernist
4 member of a tribe (n.)
C1 Advanced Dialect

a person who belongs to a tribe.

a member of a tribe, particularly used in the context of the indigenous peoples of India.

Example

The government is working on new laws to protect the land of the tribals.

Example

The conference brought together several tribals from the northeastern states to discuss the preservation of their linguistic heritage.

Usage

Commonly used in Indian English to refer to members of Scheduled Tribes.
- tribesperson

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.