as in cliquish
bound together by feelings of very close association
found the people at the brokerage house to be just as cliquey as a gaggle of high school cheerleaders
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Recent Examples of cliquey
The Friends set was notorious for being cliquey and insular.
—
Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cliquey
Adjective
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In response, Delaware last March passed a law to make the state more alluring, to which Texas quickly counter-punched with an even friendlier law.—
Geoff Colvin,
Fortune,
7 Nov. 2025
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The other side of this has been the money in the industry’s pivot first to cheaper talk shows, which don’t innovate enough to merit much critique, and now to a second pivot to turn those interview shows into video series, which makes podcasts more friendly on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Jews, because human beings are and always will be clannish.—
David Bezmozgis,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2025
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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
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With spoofing tools, criminals can mimic real bank phone numbers and even use AI to reproduce familiar voices.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
6 Nov. 2025
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The common ingredients are incredible storytellers who are excited about trying to make a series that feels authentic and realistic, and maybe feels familiar, but in a way that also feels elevated and sophisticated.—
Nellie Andreeva,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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That is the beauty of it and the whole theatrical community is so close-knit.—
Pam Kragen,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
26 Oct. 2025
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Pressing for payment could humiliate people, who often arrive with their extended families, Parmar explained, and in a community this close-knit, that could mean losing dozens of patients, including many of the Medicaid patients who keep the clinic afloat.—
Helen Ouyang,
The Atlantic,
21 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cliquey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cliquey. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
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