clique en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Received-Pronunciation) audio
- (General-American) audio
- /ˈklɪk/ (General-American)
- /klik/ (General-American)
- audio -
- /kliːk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (General-American) audio
Etymology
The noun is borrowed from French clique (“exclusive group of individuals; (archaic or obsolete) group of people hired to applaud or boo, claque”), from cliquer (“to clap; to clack, to click”), ultimately of imitative origin. The proper noun and verb are derived from the noun.
Meanings
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A small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic such as lifestyle or social status, or common purpose; specifically one formed for disreputable purposes, or which purports to be an authority on a particular matter; a cabal.
This school used to be really friendly, but now everyone keeps to their own cliques.
Near-synonyms: circle, faction, gang
Choose well your set; our feeble nature seeks / The aid of clubs, the countenance of cliques; […]
1846 October 14 (date delivered), Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], Urania: A Rhymed Lesson. […], Boston, Mass.: William D[avis] Ticknor & Company, published 1846, →OCLC, page 18:There had been talk of some disagreement about a picture, but in Sir Maxwell's experience, artists frequently disagreed about pictures, with no more consequences than a little cold-shouldering or the formation of a clique.
1931, Dorothy L[eigh] Sayers, “Farren”, in The Five Red Herrings, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, page 61:It is sufficient to state, that the Royal Academy […] has excluded and persecuted many of the greatest we possess, and that at the moment, sixty-five years after its establishment, our greatest living artists, with scarcely any exceptions, have not been educated at an academy, intended of course to educate genius, even more than to support it afterwards! With the assumption of a public body, it has combined the exclusiveness of a private clique.
1833, Edward Lytton Bulwer [i.e., Edward Bulwer-Lytton], “The State of the Arts”, in England and the English […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […] (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, 4th book (View of the Intellectual Spirit of the Time), page 205:
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(broadly) A subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph.
The problem of finding the largest clique in an arbitrary graph is NP-complete.
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(Internet, broadly) A group of related websites that link to each other, like a webring but with exclusive membership determined by the clique owner.
Does anyone know what an internet clique is/does? I came across a few and am thoroughly confused.
1999 January 3, Jackie, “[S]omeone help me out?”, in alt.fan.leo-dicaprio (Usenet):[Y]ou always have to click some big section and you get a whole new set of options in a different frame, thats^([sic]) usually on the other side of the screen. when you're there, you can choose from (in a section site stuff or something like that) link me, link you, links, top 10 links, free for all links, cliques, and webrings.
2001 May 28, spee2k, “[F]uture [N]o [D]oubt website…”, in alt.music.no-doubt (Usenet):[E]ven though we're not "regulars" anymore…*sniffle*…we still can't forget the NG [newsgroup]…i always tell new fans about it…(people who join my clique, etc…)…and besides…i owe the NG a LOT…itz where i met my best friend…
2000 August 16, - deanna -, “ot: hiya”, in alt.fan.backstreet.boys (Usenet):
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(China, broadly, historical) An informal faction in the Republic of China (1912–1949) led by one or more warlords exercising regional control through local armed forces (particularly during the Warlord Era); a regional junta.
Within the military, the Kwangsi clique of Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch'ung-hsi were openly opposed to Chiang [Kai-shek]'s policies; while Ho Ying-ch'in and others were ambivalent.
1976, Donald A. Jordan, “Taking the Expedition into North China”, in The Northern Expedition: China’s National Revolution of 1926–1928, Honolulu, Hi.: The University Press of Hawaii, →ISBN, part 2 (The Military Conquest of Warlord China), page 137:The [Fengtian] Clique’s goal was not to conquer China but first to preserve its position in Manchuria and then to establish itself as one of the national leaders through war, alliance forming, seeking foreign recognition, and building up political authority.
2017, Chi Man Kwong, “The Fengtian Clique’s Strategies and Their Failure, 1925–1931”, in War and Geopolitics in Interwar Manchuria: Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian Clique during the Northern Expedition (Studies on Modern East Asian History; 1), Leiden, South Holland: Brill, →ISBN, page 90:And, in this year, Wu Peifu, by defeating the Fengtian Clique in the Zhili-Fengtian Clique War, also reached the zenith of his power and influence.
2022, Vivienne Xiangwei Guo, “The Beginning of the End: Wu Peifu and Good Government”, in Negotiating a Chinese Federation: The Exchange of Ideas and Political Collaborations between China’s Men of Guns and Men of Letters, 1919–1923 (Ideas, History, and Modern China; 28), Leiden, South Holland; Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 143:In the South, too, due either to direct or indirect machinations by imperialism, there mushroomed many cliques and factions which fought against one another; in the provinces, small cliques and factions within big ones were also struggling against one another.
1954, Tsjenn Po-ta [i.e., Chen Boda], chapter 2, in [anonymous], transl., Notes on Ten Years of Civil War (1927–1936), Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 42:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| cliques | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| click | alternative | lexicographic |
Antonyms
Deriveds
clique number · cliquomaniac · anticlique · coclique · biclique · clique width · cliquomania · cliquish · subclique · cliquedom · cliquey · cliquemate · cliqueless · clique tree · cliquism · cliquery · Skeleton Clique · cliquy · hyperclique
Hypernyms
Relateds
Synonyms
inner circle · coterie · gang · circle · faction · camp
Translations (109)
az güruh (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · eo kliko (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · fr clique (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · el κλίκα (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · es clica (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · it associazione (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · az dəstə (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ca clica (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · sv klick (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · af kliek (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · sh кли̏ка (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · hy խառնակչախումբ (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pl banda (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pt panelinha (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · lt klika (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · es corrillo (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · th เหล่า (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · da klik (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pl klika (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · de Clique (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · lv kliķe (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · uk кліка (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · yue 派系 (informal faction in the Republic of China led by one or more warlords) · pl klika (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · sq klikë (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ru группиро́вка (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · mk клика (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · de Clique (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · hu klikk (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · be клі́ка (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · et klikk (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · fa کلیک (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · th ก๊ก (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · sv klick (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ko 파벌 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · it conventicola (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · it congrega (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pl koteria (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · th กลุ่ม (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ar عُصْبَة (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ro clică (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pt clique (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · bg кли́ка (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · uk клі́ка (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ru кли́ка (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · sh klȉka (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · it cricca (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · he קְלִיקָה (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · kk сұрқиялар тобы (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ar طُغْمَة (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · yue 系 (informal faction in the Republic of China led by one or more warlords) · ro clică (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · nb klikk (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 系 (informal faction in the Republic of China led by one or more warlords) · cs klika (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · tr klik (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cs klika (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · ca colla (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 派系 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pl stronnictwo (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · pt clique (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · vi bọn (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ko 클릭 (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · fa گروهک (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 小圈子 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · fi klikki (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · ja クリーク (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · fi ryhmittymä (informal faction in the Republic of China led by one or more warlords) · it camarilla (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · he קליקה (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · kk клика (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · hi गुट (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · th กลุ่มพรรคพวก (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · hu klikk (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · nl clique (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · nl kliek (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · fi kuppikunta (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · it cosca (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 團 /团 (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · ja 派閥 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · es bolita (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · it cricca (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · es mundillo (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · vi clique (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · ru кли́ка (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · th ก๊วน (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · fi kuppikunta (group of related websites that link to each other with exclusive membership determined by the clique owner) · ko 패거리 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 派系 (informal faction in the Republic of China led by one or more warlords) · ga aicme (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · vi bè lũ (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · th พวก (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ka კლიკა (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · sk klika (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · vi đảng phái (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 朋黨 /朋党 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · es clika (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · mi uepū (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ja クリーク (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · es clica (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · cmn 小集團 /小集团 (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · es bando (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · nl clique (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · th คณะ (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · eo kliko (subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph) · it consorteria (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · ar زَمْرَة (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · sl klika (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic) · th พรรคพวก (small, exclusive group of individuals, usually having some common characteristic)