INNER CIRCLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does inner circle mean? 

• INNER CIRCLE (noun)
  The noun INNER CIRCLE has 1 sense:

1. an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose

  Familiarity information: INNER CIRCLE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INNER CIRCLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An exclusive circle of people with a common purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

camp; clique; coterie; ingroup; inner circle; pack

Hypernyms ("inner circle" is a kind of...):

band; circle; lot; set (an unofficial association of people or groups)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "inner circle"):

Bloomsbury Group (an inner circle of writers and artists and philosophers who lived in or around Bloomsbury early in the 20th century and were noted for their unconventional lifestyles)

bohemia (a group of artists and writers with real or pretended artistic or intellectual aspirations and usually an unconventional life style)

brain trust; kitchen cabinet (an inner circle of unofficial advisors to the head of a government)

loop (an inner circle of advisors (especially under President Reagan))

cabal; camarilla; faction; junto (a clique (often secret) that seeks power usually through intrigue)

junta; military junta (a group of military officers who rule a country after seizing power)

maffia; mafia (any tightly knit group of trusted associates)

faction; sect (a dissenting clique)

galere; rogue's gallery (a coterie of undesirable people)

hard core (the most dedicated and intensely loyal nucleus of a group or movement)

 Context examples 

You are old enough to see things as they are, nephew, said he, and your knowledge of them is the badge that you are in that inner circle where I mean to place you.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)