a. [f. as prec. + -ISH.] Savoring of a clique or cliques.
1843. Standard, 12 Jan., 3/5. To regard the bitterness and hostility of the opposition journals as merely personal or cliquish manifestations which have little response in the heart of the country.
1853. T. T. Lynch, Self-Improvement, Pref. Lett. p. vii. To be Denominational is, in my opinion, to be cliquish instead of brotherly.
188[?]. Countries of World (Cassell), IV. 32. The … English community hangs together after a cliquish fashion.
Hence, Cliquishness.
1853. Fraser’s Mag., XLVII. 730. With all the offensive cliqueishness of Holland House.
1869. Spectator, 3 July, 779. Dissatisfied with … the cliquishness of the ruling power, [they] have retired from the club.
