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# clan

«clan» in Mova's school dictionary: **a large group of families who share the same ancestor…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a clan, clans)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A clan is a large group of families who share the same ancestor, especially in Scotland and Ireland. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#m1)

2) A clan is a big, close family or a group of friends who stick together (informal). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#m2)

3) In online games, a clan is a team of players. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#m3)

4) A clan can also be a group of animals, such as porpoises, that live and travel together. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons, Scottish clans such as the MacDonalds had chiefs, tartans and lands. In stories, clans can be rival groups (e.g. cats in «Warriors» books). Informally: «the whole clan came for Christmas».

### examples

- The MacGregor clan had its own tartan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x1)
- The whole clan came round for Gran's birthday. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x2)
- Each clan in the story had a different leader. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x3)
- He joined a clan in his online game. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x4)
- Clans in the Highlands sometimes fought each other. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x5)
- Our family is a noisy clan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x6)
- Porpoises went snorting past in bands and clans. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/#x7)

### note

Countable. Members of a clan are «clansmen/clanswomen». Do not confuse with «Klan» (the Ku Klux Klan, a hate group in the USA).

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «clan» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/clan/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.