tribe

tribe / trīb/ • n. 1. a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader: indigenous Indian tribes the Celtic tribes of Europe. ∎  (in ancient Rome) each of several political divisions, originally three, later thirty, ultimately thirty-five. ∎ inf. family: the entire tribe is coming for Thanksgiving. ∎ derog. a distinctive close-knit social or political group: she made a stand against the social codes of her English middle-class tribe. ∎ derog. a group or class of people or things: an outburst against the whole tribe of theoreticians. ∎  (often tribes) inf. large numbers of people or animals: tribes of children playing under the watchful eyes of nurses. 2. Biol. a taxonomic category that ranks above genus and below family or subfamily, usually ending in -ini (in zoology) or -eae (in botany).