in-group

American  

[in-groop] / ˈɪnˌgrup /

Or ingroup

noun

Sociology.

1. a group of people sharing similar interests and attitudes, producing feelings of solidarity, community, and exclusivity.

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in-group British  

noun

1. sociol a highly cohesive and relatively closed social group characterized by the preferential treatment reserved for its members and the strength of loyalty between them Compare out-group

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Etymology

Origin of in-group

First recorded in 1905–10; in- ¹ + group

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

in-group

I wasn’t in the in-group, you know, the most popular kids.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026

This suggests that rivalry strengthens in-group bonds and reinforces social identity.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025

So if you decide to exclude someone from a paradigm, you have to change the rules and you have to define who is in the in-group and who is in the out-group.

From Slate ● Mar. 3, 2025

We asked questions about their national in-group bias — which is, for example, how intelligent or charismatic they perceived a typical United Kingdom resident to be.

From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

In the in-group it was so far from being an act of hostility, or veiled impropriety, that it was applied to the closest kin.

From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham

Related Words

• camp
• class
• clique
• club
• company
• crowd
• fraternity
• party
• ring
• school
• society