Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A traditional social unit in the Scottish Highlands, consisting of a number of families claiming a common ancestor and following the same hereditary chieftain.
  • noun A division of a tribe tracing descent from a common ancestor.
  • noun A large group of relatives, friends, or associates.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A race; a family; a tribe; an association of persons under a chieftain; especially, such a family or tribe among the Highlanders of Scotland.
  • noun Figuratively, a clique, sect, set, society, or body of persons closely united by some common interest or pursuit, and supposed to have a spirit of exclusiveness toward others.
  • noun Synonyms Tribe, Race, etc. See people.
  • noun A social unit in a tribe in which descent is reckoned in the maternal line; a group of people supposed to be descended from a common ancestor, descent being reckoned in the female line. In this sense it is opposed to gens, the social unit in a tribe in which descent is reckoned in the paternal line.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A tribe or collection of families, united under a chieftain, regarded as having the same common ancestor, and bearing the same surname.
  • noun A clique; a sect, society, or body of persons; esp., a body of persons united by some common interest or pursuit; -- sometimes used contemptuously.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anthropology A group of people all descended from a common ancestor, in fact or belief.
  • noun A traditional social group of families in the Scottish Highlands having a common hereditary chieftain
  • noun Any association of people behaving clannishly.
  • noun video games A group of players who habitually play on the same team in multiplayer games.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun group of people related by blood or marriage

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic clann, family, from Old Irish cland, offspring, from Latin planta, plant, sprout; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scottish Gaelic clann ("progeny, race"), from Old Irish cland, from Old Welsh plant, from Latin planta ("shoot, offspring").

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Examples

  • How can you claim that a prophesy about a leader appearing from a certain clan is fulfilled by Jesus, who merely happened to be born in town that shares its name with that clan?

    An Amazing First Century 2009

  • Among the tribes of the Siouan family the primary unit is the clan or gens, which is composed of a number of consanguinei, claiming descent from a common ancestor and having common taboos; the term clan implying descent in the female line, while gens implies descent in the male line.

    Siouan Sociology James Owen Dorsey 1871

  • Italy's interior minister says the six victims were members of what he calls a clan in Italy's southern region of Calabria.

    CNN Transcript Aug 15, 2007 2007

  • [Escalettes] talks of lobbying from the team of 1998, which he called a clan that was putting pressure on the selector, he is false.

    Soccer Blogs - latest posts 2008

  • Name calling by the hateful open borders clan is used to silence Americans from discussing immigration and advocating the enforcement of immigration laws.

    Wonk Room » Lou Dobbs Show Cites Fear Mongering Anti-Immigrant Astronomer As Population Growth Expert 2009

  • But if a culture is too tied up in clan loyalties, I doubt that North would see a transition to an open-access order as feasible.

    Culture, Capitalism, and Freedom, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • For al of the Palin clan, please don't even think about her being a President for this country because it would be just like living in Iraq.

    Palin's PAC forced to correct FEC filing 2009

  • Forbes estimates the clan is worth at least $4 billion.

    America's Biggest Landowners Daniel Fisher 2010

  • At this point, the whole Palin clan needs to step out of public view.

    Johnston says Palin lost his vote 2009

  • July 13th, 2009 10: 05 am ET the more levi can tell us about the "palin clan" the better. i only hope he is telling the truth. could you imagine a reality show about that family??? yeh, me neither. it's unfortunate but republican women for the most part will listen to ANYTHING she has to say. the sad thing is they will believe what she says too.

    Johnston says Palin lost his vote 2009

Comments

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  • from the Irish word 'clann', meaning family

    February 19, 2007