CLIQUEY Synonyms: 25 Similar and Opposite Words

cliquey

adjective

Definition of cliquey

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

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.

Recent Examples of cliquey The middle daughter of the family has always felt outside of its cliquey confines, what with Lizzy and Jane forming such a pair and Kitty and Lydia (Molly Wright and Grace Hogg-Robinson) practically sharing a brain. — Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 6 May 2026 The Friends set was notorious for being cliquey and insular. — Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for cliquey

Adjective

Alexandra Pechman’s feature debut drops Lily McInerny’s Nora into the cliquish literary world of 2011, where an internship at a taste-making magazine means reading the slush pile, fetching coffee, and navigating exclusive parties.

— John Ross, Vanity Fair, 10 Sep. 2026
Whitehead wanted to write, but workshops rejected him and the cliquish undergraduate literary scene put him off.

— Julian Lucas, New Yorker, 22 June 2026

Definition of cliquish

Adjective

Crucially, Muse—which comes with a cuddly avatar—was designed by Meta to be beginner-friendly, and to win over people unfamiliar with AI.

— Andrew R. Chow, Time, 22 Oct. 2026
Scores from the law firm are calculated by analyzing the number of cyclist victims, change in victim rate and bicycle-friendly community recognition.

— Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 21 Oct. 2026

Definition of friendly

Adjective

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
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

Definition of clannish

Adjective

The answer is that there are some cases where quantum waves interfere constructively and give rise to a pattern familiar from classical physics.

— Philipp Strasberg, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
For experienced yogis, doing yoga from a chair can offer new ways to explore familiar movements, says Pate, who incorporates a chair into many of her regular yoga classes.

— Jennifer Heimlich, Time, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of familiar

Browse Nearby Words

cliques

cliquey

cliquish

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“Cliquey.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cliquey. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of cliquey

adjective

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