Ingroup

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tightly-knit social collective where members share interests, values, and mutual support while differentiating themselves from others
2. A network of individuals bound by common identities and relationships that foster a sense of belonging and exclusivity
3. A social group characterized by strong interpersonal bonds among its members, who share similar interests and values while distinguishing themselves from external communities

Etymology: The word "ingroup" is a simple compound: the English preposition "in" joined to "group." "In" descends from an Old English word with the same sense, and it has roots in the same ancient language family as the Latin and Greek words for "in." The second half, "group," is the more interesting piece. It was borrowed into English from French "groupe," which came from Italian "gruppo," and the Italian word traces back through Vulgar Latin "cruppus" to a Frankish word "kruppa," meaning a rounded mass or lump, with an ultimate Germanic source. So "group" began as a physical bunch or lump before it came to mean a collection of people. "Ingroup" itself is a modern formation. It takes the "in" of "in-" and the "group" of a word that had been acquired long before, and it is used to describe a set of people who share a sense of belonging, set against an "outgroup." The pairing is typically associated with social psychology, where the terms are used to describe how people divide the world into "us" and "them."

Synonyms: group, team, clique, cohort, community

Antonyms: outgroup, stranger, alien, outsider, opponent