||Clique (?), n. [F., fr. OF. cliquer to click. See Click, v. i.] A narrow circle of persons associated by common interests or for the accomplishment of a common purpose; - - generally used in a bad sense.

Clique, v. i. To To associate together in a clannish way; to act with others secretly to gain a desired end; to plot; -- used with together.

English
• A small, exclusive group of individuals; cabal
        This school used to be really friendly, but now everyone keeps to their own cliques.
  
• (graph theory) A subgraph isomorphic to a complete graph.
        The problem of finding the largest clique in an arbitrary graph is NP-complete.