clannish

adjective

clan·​nish ˈkla-nish 

1

: of or relating to a clan

clannish traditions

2

: tending to associate only with a select group of similar background or status

a clannish community

clannishly adverb

clannishness noun

Synonyms of clannish

• cliquish
• friendly
• close-knit
• cliquey
• familiar

Examples of clannish in a Sentence

The college faculty can be pretty clannish, so it's difficult to be an outsider there.

a clannish family that can be rather cool to outsiders

Recent Examples on the Web

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

In the Middle Ages, local churchgoers whispered of clannish Jews poisoning wells to kill Christian children and steal their blood for their rituals. — Mike Rothschild, Big Think, 31 Mar. 2026

The Machine was lambasted, fairly, for its clannish coördination and its efforts to keep Democratic politics in a certain mainstream style. — Nathan Heller, New Yorker, 1 June 2026

The model relies on a dramatic shift in relations among officers and prisoners, two historically warring factions in a system built on clannish gamesmanship for survival. — Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 29 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1776, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for clannish

• banish
• mannish
• spanish
• vanish

Kids Definition

clannish

adjective

clan·​nish ˈklan-ish 

: tending to associate only with a group of persons like oneself

clannishness noun