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clique

[kleek, klik]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

a small, exclusive group of people; coterie; set.

verb (used without object)

Informal. to form, or associate in, a clique.

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Clique is one of our favorite verbs.

So is subtilize. Does it mean:

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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Origin:
1705–15; < French, apparently metaphorical use of Middle French clique latch, or noun derivative of cliquer to make noise, resound, imitative word parallel to click¹

Related forms

clique·less, adjective

cli·quey, cli·quy, adjective

cli·quism, noun

sub·clique, noun

Can be confused: 1. claque, clique; 2. click, clique.

Synonyms
1. See circle, ring¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To clique

Example Sentences

It's not simply that different students are in cliques because they fit in with others in the clique.

Decisions are made by clique rather than by shared governance.

They say that such barriers benefit a clique of scholars at the expense of the fossils themselves.

EXPAND

It's not simply that different students are in cliques because they fit in with others in the clique.

Decisions are made by clique rather than by shared governance.

They say that such barriers benefit a clique of scholars at the expense of the fossils themselves.

He even had his clique of dog-friends that he played with.

Whenever any clique member made a reproduction error, the result was one of the other two peers.

These ideals were not invented by some aesthetic clique.

But there is little agreement on whether the group was a genuinely sinister collection of officers or merely a peculiar clique.

The committee is only checking to see if the applicant is part of the popular clique.

My point is that when folks get angry, they get stupid, and stupidity knows no party or clique.

Absolute power corrupts those who wield it, because inevitably a clique forms around them.

Why, no one has bashed the clique that's not a clique for a long time.

Even military leaders two decades ago chose to share power with a clique.

Each of these actions might again be communicated instantly to the news feeds of their clique.

For example, the clique that responds to all three startling events could be integrating information from the amygdala.

It can be tricky to befriend them while not joining their clique.

High set-up and maintenance costs make entry into this clique difficult for immigrants.

Zimbabwe is still run by a dictator and his immediate clique.

Clique membership is the perfect breeding ground for this kind of behavior.

Two senior colleagues who used to support me have become drawn into the new clique with my ex-officemate.

His team now gets together regularly for fun, as if they were a clique of college friends.

Often they're part of a clique with a few older professors where they get implicit license to work out on junior faculty.

Iran's official culture is now dominated by a small, pro-government clique.

Osbourne growth strategy should be revolutionary, instead of preserving clique interests.

We're talking about a single clique of criminals here.

China is ruled by a small clique of self-serving old men who are interested in only one.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

clique (kliːk, klɪk)

—n
	a small, exclusive group of friends or associates

[C18: from French, perhaps from Old French: latch, from cliquer to click; suggestive of the necessity to exclude nonmembers]

'cliquish

—*adj*

'cliquishly

—*adv*

'cliquishness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

clique

1711, from Fr. clique, from O.Fr. cliquer "to make a noise," echoic. Apparently this word was at one time treated as the equivalent of claque.

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

clique definition

mathematics
A maximal totally connected subgraph. Given a graph with nodes N, a clique C is a subset of N where every node in C is directly connected to every other node in C (i.e. C is totally connected), and C contains all such nodes (C is maximal). In other words, a clique contains all, and only, those nodes which are directly connected to all other nodes in the clique.
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(1996-09-22)

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coterie faction gang gentlemen's agreement in-group

Matching Quote

"What though he did not belong to your clique! Though you may not approve of his method or his principles, recognize his magnanimity. Would you not like to claim kindredship with him in that, though in no other thing he is like, or likely, to you? Do you think that you would lose your reputation so? What you lost at the spile, you would gain at the bung."

-Henry David Thoreau

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