cliquish

[ klee-kish, klik-ish ]

/ ˈkli kɪʃ, ˈklɪk ɪʃ /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR cliquish ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

associating exclusively with the members of one's own clique; clannish.

tending to divide into cliques: a cliquish neighborhood.

of, relating to, or characteristic of a clique: narrow, cliquish notions about art.

Origin of cliquish

First recorded in 1850–55; clique + -ish¹

OTHER WORDS FROM cliquish

cli·quish·ly, adverbcli·quish·ness, noun

Words nearby cliquish

clipsheet, clip someone's wings, clipt, clique, cliquey, cliquish, clishmaclaver, clisis, Clisthenes, clistocarpous, clistothecium

Example sentences from the Web for cliquish

They set up a society that feels like high school on speed—oppressive and cliquish, only way more so.
‘The Bone Season’ Could Be the Next ‘Hunger Games,’ But Is It Any Good?|Leila Sales|August 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But I would rather see the inevitable mistakes made by a democratic rather than a cliquish system of voting.
The Oscars' Foreign Language Flop|Stephen Farber|February 22, 2011|DAILY BEAST
Any system, in fact, which involves “double election” tends to make the body concerned hidebound and cliquish.
Practical Politics; or, the Liberalism of To-day|Alfred Farthing Robbins