Definitions for society
səˈsaɪ ɪ tiso·ci·ety

Princeton's WordNet(2.85 / 26 votes)Rate this definition:

1. society(noun)

   an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization

2. club, social club, society, guild, gild, lodge, order(noun)

   a formal association of people with similar interests

   "he joined a golf club"; "they formed a small lunch society"; "men from the fraternal order will staff the soup kitchen today"

3. company, companionship, fellowship, society(noun)

   the state of being with someone

   "he missed their company"; "he enjoyed the society of his friends"

4. society, high society, beau monde, smart set, bon ton(noun)

   the fashionable elite

Wiktionary(2.86 / 7 votes)Rate this definition:

1. society(Noun)

   A long-standing group of people sharing cultural aspects such as language, dress, norms of behavior and artistic forms.

   This society has been known for centuries for its colorful clothing and tight-knit family structure.

   Etymology: From societé, from societas.

2. society(Noun)

   A group of people who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest; an association or organization.

   It was then that they decided to found a society of didgeridoo-playing unicyclists.

   Etymology: From societé, from societas.

3. society(Noun)

   The sum total of all voluntary interrelations between individuals.

   Etymology: From societé, from societas.

4. society(Noun)

   The people of one's country or community taken as a whole.

   Etymology: From societé, from societas.

5. society(Noun)

   High society.

   Smith was first introduced into society at the Duchess of Grand Fenwick's annual rose garden party.

   Etymology: From societé, from societas.

6. society(Noun)

   A number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.

   Etymology: From societé, from societas.

Webster Dictionary(2.80 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Society(noun)

   the relationship of men to one another when associated in any way; companionship; fellowship; company

   Etymology: [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. socit. See Social.]

2. Society(noun)

   connection; participation; partnership

   Etymology: [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. socit. See Social.]

3. Society(noun)

   a number of persons associated for any temporary or permanent object; an association for mutual or joint usefulness, pleasure, or profit; a social union; a partnership; as, a missionary society

   Etymology: [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. socit. See Social.]

4. Society(noun)

   the persons, collectively considered, who live in any region or at any period; any community of individuals who are united together by a common bond of nearness or intercourse; those who recognize each other as associates, friends, and acquaintances

   Etymology: [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. socit. See Social.]

5. Society(noun)

   specifically, the more cultivated portion of any community in its social relations and influences; those who mutually give receive formal entertainments

   Etymology: [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. socit. See Social.]

Freebase(3.62 / 13 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Society

   A society, or a human society, is a group of people involved with each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or social territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In the social sciences, a larger society often evinces stratification and/or dominance patterns in subgroups. Insofar as it is collaborative, a society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap. A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology. More broadly, a society may be illustrated as an economic, social, or industrial infrastructure, made up of a varied collection of individuals. Members of a society may be from different ethnic groups. A society can be a particular ethnic group, such as the Saxons; a nation state, such as Bhutan; or a broader cultural group, such as a Western society. The word society may also refer to an organized voluntary association of people for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. A "society" may even, though more by means of metaphor, refer to a social organism such as an ant colony or any cooperative aggregate such as, for example, in some formulations of artificial intelligence.

The Roycroft Dictionary(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. society

   1. An erotic clique that reads _Vogue_, _Smart Set_ and _Town Topics_. 2. A congregation of people who are not persons. 3. A vast interchange of service through labor, ideas and commodities. 4. A relish for solitude.

Editors Contribution(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. society

   The people of a specific area, community, locality, region, country, nation or planet as an intelligent being, consciousness and whole.

   Society has a duty of to provide an existence where everyone lives in harmony and balance and everything is shared and created for the optimum health, human rights and shared prosperity of all members of society.

   Submitted by MaryC on February 13, 2020  

Suggested Resources(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. society

   Song lyrics by society -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by society on the Lyrics.com website.

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'society' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #354

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'society' in Written Corpus Frequency: #889

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'society' in Nouns Frequency: #93

How to pronounce society?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say society in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of society in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of society in Pythagorean Numerology is: 6

Examples of society in a Sentence

1. Elena Liberatoris:

   With that ruling I wanted to tell society something new, that animals are sentient beings and that the first right they have is our obligation to respect them.

2. Frank Zappa, Interview with this submitter, New York City, 5/08/1980:

   The function of government ought to be: make sure you have good water to drink, somebody picking up the garbage, good roads to drive on, enough electricity to turn your light bulbs and your record player on, and whatever smaller amounts of regulatory assistance is necessary to make this society work.

3. Isaac Asimov:

   It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be. This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our every man must take on a science fictional way of thinking.

4. Anuj Somany:

   People take selfie with a celebrity not at all for his or her popularity, but only to post the same picture on social media to vainly brag and merely show own self as famous personality to friends and others in the networking community;such is our selfish society.

5. Michael Horton:

   Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church's agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism.

Images & Illustrations of society

Popularity rank by frequency of use