Skip to main content
tribal society

tribal society

3 4.7
A society organized by groups of related families with traditional customs
  • noun
  • /ˈtraɪbəl səˈsaɪəti/
translation icon : sociedad tribal
  • Historically, the Cherokees, like many tribal societies, enjoyed a strong sense of moral obligation and a well-defined ethical system (Gilbert 1943).
  • many tribal societies
  • Arab tribal society

A person might say that's a relic of a kind of tribal Society, of a kind of pre modern.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • From a political point of view, Islam raised tribal society to a higher, more inclusive level of integration.

    Academic text (2008)
  • Is there any evidence from tribal societies that widows go to men with whom they have had affairs?

    Academic text (2000)
  • '... we are, more and more, a tribal society ...'

    Blog text (5)
  • Many, if not most, of the young men in tribal societies are illiterate.

    Blog text (29)
  • In summary, people who were witches and the methods they used have parallels in other tribal societies in the present and the past.

    Academic text (2000)
  • It's certainly true that Afghanistan is a tribal society and that it has always been fairly decentralized.

    Academic text (2009)
  • Beyond disrupting cooperation and shared pasture, feuds and violence can threaten the social fabric of tribal society.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Anthropologists and folklorists ascribed to tribal societies before European contact the functional virtues of timeless tradition.

    Academic text (2016)
  • Likewise, the borderline traits of addiction and substance abuse are uncommon in small-scale tribal societies (Fabrega 1984).

    Academic text (1994)
  • In a traditional tribal society, families often rely on each other for support and resources.

Synonyms

tribe
vstribal society
576 2.3

A group of people who share the same family background, language, and customs

is a whole community organized around kinship and traditional customs

How Kin-Based

tribal society
3 4.7
clan
594 2.9
village
1.0
nation
1.7

Surface Forms

Morphology

tribal + society

The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'tribal' (pertaining to tribes) + 'society' (a community), so a learner who knows both words can infer a community organized around tribes. This adjective+noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward English composition, making it immediately comprehensible at B1 level.

Etymology

Tribal society comes from the simple picture of a tribal group of families who live and work together and a society meaning their whole community with elders and shared traditions, so it means 'a community organized by family groups and tradition'.