They honour ethnic groups for holding out, having lost nothing (8)

I believe the answer is:

tributes

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'they' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are plural nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

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(Other definitions for tributes that I've seen before include "Accolades" , "payments of state dependency" , "Credits" , "Compliments paid by bitter us" , "Speeches in praise or thanks" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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