cliquish
1
8.2
- adjective
- /ˈklɪkɪʃ/
- Informal
:
exclusivo
- At the party, the conversation was cliquish, with groups forming that excluded newcomers.
Examples
-
It just seems very cliquish.
Academic text (2006) -
Conferences are often just as cliquish as high school was.
-
But this piece struck me as cliquish.
Blog text (13) -
" The academy can be very cliquish, and there's a sense that people are hiring friends instead of colleagues," she said.
Academic text (2016) -
Mystery fandom is a bit of an odd duck and very cliquish indeed.
Blog text (9) -
Even the term "cool kids" is cliquish and smacks of resentment.
Blog text (29) -
It seems very cliquish.
-
I had, in fact, as soon as I got to UNC, attempted to join the Asian American club, but I couldn't get over how cliquish they seemed, embracing their strangeness, while the truth is that I was trying to get away from those differences.
Blog text (2) -
Sure, car people can be cliquish, argumentative, stubborn, and pedantic, but every time we've reported on or put a call out to our readers to help someone in need, they've come through with genuine grace and generosity.
Blog text (23) -
The new students found the club to be very cliquish, making it hard to feel welcome.
Synonyms
16
6.3
A person who thinks they are better than other people and looks down on them
7
5.3
Acting like you are better than other people because of their money or clothes
2
7.7
Likely to form small groups of friends that exclude others
2
7.5
A place or group that is friendly to members but keeps new people out
1
8.2
Prefers to be with a small close group and excludes other people
Antonyms
How Exclusive
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Cliquish comes from the French word clique, which means 'small, exclusive group'. A helpful way to remember it is to think of people who click ('fit well') — they stick together and leave others out, so cliquish means tending to form small groups that avoid outsiders.