cliquish

as in clannish
bound together by feelings of very close association the cliquish White House press corps soon let him know that he was not on the A-list

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cliquish
Adjective
  • Jews, because human beings are and always will be clannish.
    David Bezmozgis, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2025
  • This sort of soft, clannish corruption is not a coat of paint that can be stripped from the protectionist architecture; the dysfunction infests the very foundations of it.
    David B. McGarry, Baltimore Sun, 30 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Best Prime Day Robot Vacuum Deals Need a friendly little robot to tidy up your house?
    Nena Farrell, Wired News, 10 July 2025
  • Recently sober, Felix has his own complement of bandmates, friends and friendly ex-girlfriends, including three women named Polly — Adèle Exarchopoulos plays the important one — whose history with Felix makes Jess nervous.
    Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2025
Adjective
  • The whole first half of the season saw Hamilton struggle to adapt to the Italian race car, and Silverstone was another chapter in a familiar story.
    Nelson Espinal, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 July 2025
  • Managers saw themselves as solving the equivalent of familiar jigsaw puzzles.
    Steve Denning, Forbes.com, 6 July 2025
Adjective
  • Being so close-knit enabled Liverpool to scale such heights on the field last season.
    James Pearce, New York Times, 9 July 2025
  • The larger and less close-knit the group, the less appealing this kind of design can be.
    Soo Kim, MSNBC Newsweek, 27 June 2025
Adjective
  • The figure surpasses that of the closest rival, China, which had 317 companies represented.
    Diana Leyva, The Tennessean, 10 July 2025
  • Evening operations require a delicate balance: maintaining service standards while preparing for close and keeping everyone safe.
    Elie Y. Katz, Forbes.com, 10 July 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Cliquish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cliquish. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.

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