Definitions for tribe
traɪbtribe

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. tribe, folknoun

   a social division of (usually preliterate) people

2. tribe, federation of tribesnoun

   a federation (as of American Indians)

3. tribenoun

   (biology) a taxonomic category between a genus and a subfamily

4. kin, kin group, kinship group, kindred, clan, tribenoun

   group of people related by blood or marriage

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. tribenoun

   A socially, ethnically, and politically cohesive group of people.

2. tribenoun

   A society larger than a band but smaller than a state.

3. tribenoun

   The collective noun for various animals.

4. tribenoun

   A hierarchal rank between family and genus.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tribenoun

   Etymology: tribu, Fr. tribus, Lat. from trev, b and v being labials of promiscuous use in the ancient British words; trev from tir ef, his lands, is supposed to be Celtick, and used before the Romans had any thing to do with the British government; to prove which Mr. Rowland offers many reasons, which he mentions by imagining that centuriæ is derived from trev, supposing it to be the same with our centrev, importing a hundred trevs or tribes.

   1. A distinct body of the people as divided by family or fortune, or any other characteristick.

   I ha’ been writing all this night unto all the tribes
   And centuries for their voices, to help Catiline
   In his election. Ben Jonson, Cataline.

   If the heads of the tribes can be taken off, and the misled multitude will see their error, such extent of mercy is honourable. Francis Bacon, Advice to Villiers.

   Who now shall rear you to the sun, or rank
   Your tribes, and water from th’ ambrosial fount. John Milton.

   Straggling mountaineers, for publick good,
   To rank in tribes, and quit the savage wood,
   Houses to build. Nahum Tate.

   I congratulate my country upon the increase of this happy tribe of men, since, by the present parliament, the race of freeholders is spreading into the remotest corners. Addison.

   2. It is often used in contempt.

   Folly and vice are easy to describe,
   The common subjects of our scribbling tribe. Wentworth Dillon.

Webster Dictionary(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Tribenoun

   a family, race, or series of generations, descending from the same progenitor, and kept distinct, as in the case of the twelve tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of Jacob

2. Tribenoun

   a number of species or genera having certain structural characteristics in common; as, a tribe of plants; a tribe of animals

3. Tribenoun

   a nation of savages or uncivilized people; a body of rude people united under one leader or government; as, the tribes of the Six Nations; the Seneca tribe

4. Tribenoun

   a division, class, or distinct portion of a people, from whatever cause that distinction may have originated; as, the city of Athens was divided into ten tribes

5. Tribenoun

   a family of animals descended from some particular female progenitor, through the female line; as, the Duchess tribe of shorthorns

6. Tribeverb

   to distribute into tribes or classes

Freebase(5.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Tribe

   A tribe is viewed, historically or developmentally, as a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states. Many anthropologists used the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups. Traditional genealogy defines tribes as groups who have common blood relations. Some political economy theorists such as Elman Service hold that tribes represent a stage in social evolution intermediate between bands and states. Other theorists, such as Morton Fried, argue that tribes developed after, and must be understood in terms of their relationship to, states. 'Tribe' is a contested term due to its roots in colonial anthropological foundations and the connotations that these hierarchical definitions have negative connotations. To avoid these implications, some have chosen to use the terms 'ethnic group', or nation instead.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tribe

   trīb, n. an aggregate of stocks—a stock being an aggregate of persons considered to be kindred—or an aggregate of families, forming a community usually under the government of a chief: a number of things having certain common qualities.—adj. Trib′al.—n. Trib′alism.—adv. Trib′ally.—ns. Tribe′let; Tribes′man. [L. tribus, orig. applied to one of the three divisions of the ancient Roman people—tri-, tres, three.]

CrunchBase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tribe

   Tribe is a social network started in the San Francisco bay area.Tribe is similar to social networks like Facebook and MySpace, but allows users to create their own personal networks with other users; forming “tribes.” Anyone may register as a new tribe user, and may then define their immediate network of friends, either by choosing from existing members or by inviting new members to join. Each of these users may in turn define their own network of friends.

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. tribe

   Song lyrics by tribe -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by tribe on the Lyrics.com website.

Entomology(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Tribe

   a term of classification less than a sub-family: opinionative and ending in ini: but this is not universally adhered to.

Matched Categories

1. • Biology
   • Taxonomic Group

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'tribe' in Nouns Frequency: #2467

Anagrams for tribe »

1. biter, rebit, Tiber

How to pronounce tribe?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say tribe in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of tribe in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of tribe in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of tribe in a Sentence

1. Sitting Bull:

   I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle.

2. Jeanine Borchardt:

   The role of a tribal official is to act to make the tribe better, but the actions of Gari Lafferty since she took office have served neither the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah nor its elected council.

3. Laurence Tribe:

   Or, if Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe decides, ‘ I ’m simply not going to protect United States from foreign attack. I ’m busy making money. ’.

4. Gilbert Baker:

   We're an ancient, wonderful tribe of people, we picked something beautiful.

5. Michael Rubin:

   The King's tough stance will play well with many Jordanians, as well as the influential Bararsheh tribe of which he was a member.

Popularity rank by frequency of use