tribal

«tribal» in Mova's school dictionary: Belonging to a tribe – a group of families or communities… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (tribal)

meaning for a pupil

1) Belonging to a tribe – a group of families or communities who share ancestors, language, customs and often land, with their own leaders. tree →

2) Showing strong loyalty to your own group and dislike of others: «tribal football fans». tree →

sense in the lessons

In history and geography lessons we learn about tribal peoples in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific; many Native American nations and Aboriginal and Māori groups prefer their own names («nation», «iwi», «mob»). «Tribal» can be used respectfully about traditions, but old books sometimes used it in a looking-down way, which is wrong. Phrases: «tribal lands», «tribal art», «tribal leaders».

examples

• The museum showed tribal art from many parts of Africa. tree →
• Tribal elders met to decide what to do. tree →
• Many tribal lands were taken by settlers in the past. tree →
• Football fans can be very tribal about their team. tree →
• The tribal dance told the story of the first people. tree →
• Māori groups called iwi have their own lands and leaders. tree →
• This is an essentially Indian trait; almost all Hindus have some tribal or caste mark on their bodies or faces. tree →

note

Adjective only; the noun is «tribe». Be respectful: call peoples by their own names when you can, and avoid using «tribal» to mean «primitive» – that idea is wrong.

In the corpora

• The ladies fill the poor man's hair with mud, bang the tribal drums and call every chief of the Tribe.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «tribal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.