Word Confusion: Click versus Clique

Posted April 12, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
29 June 2023

I don’t often run afoul of this particular word confusion, but when I do, I just feel so shut out. I guess I’m just not part of that particular crowd; I’ll have to click my way across the Internet and find my own clique.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Click	Clique
Pen Click was uploaded by Colonel Warden and is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Clique by Cristiano Betta is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — Any group with a particular interest can be a clique.
Part of Grammar:
Noun ¹, ²; Verb ¹, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: clicks Gerund: clicking Third person present verb: clicks Past tense or past participle: clicked Present participle: clicking	Noun; Verb, intransitive Plural for the noun: cliques Third person present verb: cliques Past tense or past participle: cliqued Present participle: cliquing
Noun: A short, sharp sound as of a switch being operated or of two hard objects coming quickly into contact ¹ [Phonetics] An ingressive consonantal stop produced by sudden withdrawal of the tongue from the soft palate, front teeth, or back teeth and hard palate, occurring in some southern African and other languages [Computing] An act of pressing a button on a mouse or similar device. [Medicine] A slight sharp sound, such as that heard from the heart during systole [Informal; also klick] A kilometer ² Verb, intransitive: Make or cause to make a short, sharp sound ¹ [Computing] Select an item in a graphical user interface by pressing a button on a mouse [Informal] Become suddenly clear or understandable Quickly become friendly or intimate Become successful or popular Verb, transitive: Make or cause to make a short, sharp sound ¹ [Computing] Select an item in a graphical user interface by pressing a button on a mouse	Noun: A small exclusive group of people Coterie, set, circle, ring, in-crowd, group Club, society, fraternity, sorority Cabal, caucus [Informal] Gang Verb, intransitive: [Informal] To form, or associate in, an exclusive group To act with others secretly to gain a desired end To plot
Examples:
Noun: We heard the click of the timer. She heard the click of the door. The !Kung bushmen in The Gods Must Be Crazy use a click language. Do a right-click to open a dialogue box with other options. We drove about 200 klicks northwest of Moscow. Verb, intransitive: The camera clicked. It finally clicked in my head. We just clicked that night. The key clicked in the lock and the door opened. Click on the illustration for a larger version. Finally it clicked what all the fuss had been about. We just clicked, and I found myself falling in love. I didn’t meet a woman with whom I really clicked until I was 40. I don’t think this issue has clicked with the voters. Verb, transitive: She clicked off the light. Martha clicked her tongue. The clicking cameras outside the church. Click the left mouse button twice.	Noun: Almost no one from our clique has shown up for the reunion. They’re a tight-knit little clique. Remember the cliques in high school? Verb, intransitive: They cliqued together.
Derivatives:
Adjective: clickless, clicky Noun: clicker	Adverb: cliquishly Adjective: cliquish, cliqueless, cliquey, cliquy Noun: cliquishness, cliquism, subclique
History of the Word:
Late 16th century: imitative. 1960s and of unknown origin; the term was originally used in the Vietnam War.	Early 18th century from the Old French cliquer meaning make a noise.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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