society

English

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Society (disambiguation)

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• soc. (abbreviation)

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French societé, from Old French societé, from Latin societās, societātem (“fellowship, association, alliance, union, community”), from socius (“associated, allied; partner, companion, ally”), from Proto-Indo-European *sokʷ-yo- (“companion”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”). First attested in the 1530s.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/

• Audio (UK):

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• Audio (US):

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Noun

society (countable and uncountable, plural societies)

1. (countable) 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.

   • 2012 March-April, John T. Jost, “Social Justice: Is It in Our Nature (and Our Future)?”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 162:

     He draws eclectically on studies of baboons, descriptive anthropological accounts of hunter-gatherer societies and, in a few cases, the fossil record.

2. (countable) 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.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:

     At half-past nine on this Saturday evening, the parlour of the Salutation Inn, High Holborn, contained most of its customary visitors. […] In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass.

3. (countable) The sum total of all voluntary interrelations between individuals.

   The gap between Western and Eastern societies seems to be narrowing.

   • 2013 August 10, Schumpeter, “Cronies and capitols”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:

     Policing the relationship between government and business in a free society is difficult. Businesspeople have every right to lobby governments, and civil servants to take jobs in the private sector.

4. (uncountable) The people of one’s country or community taken as a whole.

   Our global society develops in fits and starts.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion:

     If successful, Edison and Ford—in 1914—would move society away from the ever more expensive and then universally known killing hazards of gasoline cars: […].

   • 2012 January, Steven Sloman, “The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 74:

     Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.

5. (uncountable) High society.

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

   • 1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice:

     "What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society."

6. (countable, law) A number of people joined by mutual consent to deliberate, determine and act toward a common goal.

Hyponyms

• bible society
• building society
• café society
• civic society
• civil society
• high society
• learned society
• mutual admiration society
• polite society
• Royal Society
• secret society

 

Derived terms

• acclimatisation society
• altar society
• antisociety
• benefit society
• big society
• black society
• bonfire society
• book society
• burial society
• cafe society
• classification society
• collecting society
• collection society
• consociety
• consumer society
• cybersociety
• e-society
• extra-society
• friendly society
• historical society
• honor society
• house society
• humane society
• information society
• infosociety
• intersociety
• ladies' aid society
• landed society
• learning society
• megasociety
• microsociety
• multisociety
• mutual society
• nonsociety
• pay one's debt to society
• pillar of society
• pillar of society
• risk society
• societal
• society column
• society columnist
• society function
• society garlic
• society house
• societyless
• society pages
• society verse
• societywide
• soldiers' aid society
• stakeholder society
• subsociety
• supersociety
• technosociety
• undersociety
• we live in a society

 

Translations

group of people sharing culture

Afrikaans: samelewing, gemeenskap (af) Albanian: shoqëri (sq) f Amharic: ኅብረተሰብ (ḫəbrätäsäb) Arabic: مُجْتَمَع (ar) m (mujtamaʕ), جَمَاعَة (ar) f (jamāʕa), جَامِعَة (ar) f (jāmiʕa) Aragonese: soziedá f Armenian: հասարակություն (hy) (hasarakutʻyun) Aromanian: please add this translation if you can Assamese: সমাজ (xomaz) Asturian: sociedá f Azerbaijani: cəmiyyət (az) Bashkir: йәмғиәт (yəmğiət) Basque: gizarte Belarusian: грама́дства n (hramádstva) Bengali: সমাজ (bn) (śomaj) Bulgarian: о́бщество (bg) n (óbštestvo) Burmese: လူတော (my) (lutau:), လူ့ဘောင် (my) (lu.bhaung), လူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်း (my) (lu.a.hpwai.a.cany:) Buryat: ниигэм (niigem) Carpathian Rusyn: грома́да f (hromáda), сполоченство n (spoločenstvo) Catalan: societat (ca) f Chechen: юкъаралла (juqʼaralla), йукъаралла (juqʼaralla) Cherokee: ᎤᎾᏙᏢᎯ (unadotlvhi) Chinese: Cantonese: 社會／社会 (se5 wui6-2) Dungan: шәхуэй (šəhuey) Eastern Min: 社會／社会 (siâ-huôi) Hakka: 社會／社会 (sa-fi) Hokkien: 社會／社会 (zh-min-nan) (siā-hōe) Mandarin: 社會／社会 (zh) (shèhuì) Wu: 社會／社会 (6zo-we) Chuvash: пӗрлӗх (pĕrlĕh) Czech: společnost (cs) f Danish: samfund n Dhivehi: މުޖުތަމަޢު (mujutamaʿu) Dutch: maatschappij (nl), samenleving (nl) Esperanto: socio (eo) Estonian: ühiskond Faroese: samfelag n Finnish: yhteiskunta (fi) French: société (fr) f Friulian: societât f Galician: sociedade (gl) f Georgian: საზოგადოება (sazogadoeba) German: Gesellschaft (de) f Greek: κοινωνία (el) f (koinonía) Gujarati: સમાજ (samāj) Hausa: please add this translation if you can Hawaiian: ʻahahui Hebrew: חֶבְרָה (he) f (khevrá) Hindi: समाज (hi) m (samāj) Hungarian: társaság (hu), társadalom (hu) Icelandic: samfélag (is) n, þjóðfélag (is) n Ido: socio (io) Igbo: please add this translation if you can Indonesian: masyarakat (id) Interlingua: societate Irish: tsochaí Italian: società (it) f Japanese: 社会 (ja) (しゃかい, shakai) Javanese: ꦩꦱꦾꦫꦏꦠ꧀ (masyarakat) Kannada: ಸಮಾಜ (kn) (samāja) Kazakh: қоғам (qoğam), қауым (qauym) Khmer: សង្គម (km) (sɑngkum) Korean: 사회(社會) (ko) (sahoe) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کۆمەڵایەتی (ckb) (komellayetî) Northern Kurdish: civak (ku) f, sosyete (ku) Kyrgyz: коом (ky) (koom) Lao: ສັງຄົມ (lo) (sang khom) Latin: societās (la) f Latvian: sabiedrība (lv) f Ligurian: societæ f Lithuanian: visuomenė (lt) f Lü: ᦂᦱᦟᦰᦢᦱᧃᧉᦵᦙᦲᧂ (k̇aal!ḃaan²moeng) Luxembourgish: Gesellschaft f Macedonian: општество n (opštestvo) Malagasy: fiarahamonina (mg) Malay: masyarakat (ms) Malayalam: സമൂഹം (ml) (samūhaṁ) Maltese: soċjetà f Maori: porihanga Marathi: समाज (mr) m (samāj) Mirandese: sociadade Mongolian: Cyrillic: нийгэм (mn) (niigem) Mongolian: ᠨᠡᠶᠢᠭᠡᠮ (neyigem) Nepali: समाज (ne) (samāj) Norman: sociêté f Norwegian: Bokmål: samfunn n Nynorsk: samfunn n Occitan: societat (oc), societat (oc) f Odia: ସମାଜ (samāja) Old English: ġefērscipe m, drohtaþ m Old Slovak: obecenstvo n Ottoman Turkish: جمعیت (cemʼiyet) Pannonian Rusyn: дружтво n (družtvo) Pashto: ټولنه (ps) f (ṭolᶕna), جامعه (ps) f (jāme'a), اجتماع (ps) m (ejtemā') Persian: Dari: جَامِعَه (jāmi'a), اِجْتِمَاع (ijtimā'), اَنْجُمَن (anjuman) (archaic) Iranian Persian: جامِعِه (jâme'e), اِجْتِماع (ejtemâ'), اَنْجُمَن (anjoman) (archaic) Polish: społeczeństwo (pl) n Portuguese: sociedade (pt) f Punjabi: Gurmukhi: ਸਮਾਜ (pa) m (samāj) Shahmukhi: سَماج m (samāj) Romanian: societate (ro) f Romansch: societad f (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran), sozietad f (Sutsilvan), societed f (Puter), società f (Vallader) Russian: о́бщество (ru) n (óbščestvo), со́циум (ru) m (sócium) Scots: please add this translation if you can Scottish Gaelic: comann-sòisealta m, sòisealtas m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: дру́штво n Roman: drúštvo (sh) n Shan: မုၵ်ႉၸုမ်း (mṵ̂k tsúm) Sicilian: please add this translation if you can Sinhalese: සමාජය (si) (samājaya) Slovak: spoločnosť (sk) f Slovene: družba (sl) f Spanish: sociedad (es) f Sranan Tongo: libimakandra Swahili: jamii (sw) Swedish: samhälle (sv) n Tagalog: lipunan (tl), ulnong (the social order) Tajik: ҷамъият (tg) (jamʾiyat), ҷамоат (tg) (jamoat), ҷомеа (tg) (jomea), иҷтимоъ (ijtimoʾ) Tamil: சமூகம் (ta) (camūkam) Tatar: җәмгыять (tt) (cämgıyat’) Telugu: సమాజం (te) (samājaṁ) Thai: สังคม (th) (sǎng-kom) Tibetan: སྤྱི་ཚོགས (spyi tshogs) Turkish: toplum (tr), sosyete (tr) Turkmen: jemgyýet (tk) Tuvan: ниитилел (niitilel) Ukrainian: суспі́льство n (suspílʹstvo), со́ціум m (sócium) Urdu: سَماج m (samāj), جَماعَت f (jamā'at), اَنْجُمَن (ur) m (anjuman) Uyghur: جەمئىيەت (jem'iyet) Uzbek: jamiyat (uz), jamoa (uz) Vietnamese: xã hội (vi) (社會) Volapük: please add this translation if you can Walloon: please add this translation if you can Welsh: cymdeithas (cy) West Frisian: maatskippij Yakut: уопсастыба (uopsastıba) Yiddish: געזעלשאַפֿט f (gezelshaft) Zhuang: sevei

group of persons who meet from time to time to engage in a common interest

Arabic: جَمْعِيَّة (ar) f (jamʕiyya) Armenian: հասարակություն (hy) (hasarakutʻyun), ընկերություն (hy) (ənkerutʻyun) Belarusian: тавары́ства n (tavarýstva), грама́дства (hramádstva), згуртава́нне n (zhurtavánnje) Bengali: আঞ্জুমান (bn) (anjuman) Bulgarian: дру́жество (bg) n (drúžestvo) Burmese: အဖွဲ့ (my) (a.hpwai.), အဖွဲ့အစည်း (my) (a.hpwai.a.cany:), သမဂ္ဂ (my) (sa.magga.) Chinese: Mandarin: 會／会 (zh) (huì); 會社／会社 (zh) (huìshè); 學會／学会 (zh) (xuéhuì), 協會／协会 (zh) (xiéhuì) Czech: společnost (cs) f, spolek (cs) m Dutch: vereniging (nl), gezelschap (nl) n, sociëteit (nl) f Esperanto: societo (eo) Finnish: yhteisö (fi), yhdistys (fi), seura (fi), kerho (fi) Galician: sociedade (gl) f German: Gesellschaft (de) f Greek: σύλλογος (el) m (sýllogos), εταιρεία (el) f (etaireía) Gujarati: please add this translation if you can Hausa: jam'iyya Hindi: संस्था (hi) f (sansthā) Icelandic: félag (is) n Ido: societo (io) Igbo: oha Indonesian: perkumpulan (id) Irish: cumann m Italian: società (it) f, associazione (it) f Japanese: 組織 (ja) (そしき, soshiki), 協会 (ja) (きょうかい, kyōkai) Khmer: សមាគម (km) (saʼmaakum) Korean: 모임 (ko) (moim), 회(會) (ko) (hoe), 협회(協會) (ko) (hyeophoe), 학회(學會) (ko) (hakhoe), 조합(組合) (ko) (johap), 연구회(硏究會) (yeon'guhoe), 단체(團體) (ko) (danche), 동호회(同好會) (ko) (donghohoe) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کۆمەڵایەتی (ckb) (komellayetî) Latin: sodālitās f Lü: ᦃᦼᧈ (ẋuy¹) Macedonian: друштво n (društvo) Malay: persatuan (ms) Maltese: għaqda f Maori: rōpū, manatōpū Norwegian: Bokmål: forening (no) m or f Nynorsk: foreining f Ottoman Turkish: جمعیت (cemʼiyet), انجمن (encümen) Polish: stowarzyszenie (pl) n, towarzystwo (pl) n Portuguese: grupo (pt) m, sociedade (pt) f, associação (pt) f, grêmio (pt) m, agremiação (pt) f Romanian: societate (ro) f Russian: о́бщество (ru) n (óbščestvo), соо́бщество (ru) n (soóbščestvo) Scottish Gaelic: cuideachd f Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: дру́штво n Roman: drúštvo (sh) n Slovak: spoločnosť (sk) f, spolok m Slovene: družba (sl) f, društvo n Spanish: sociedad (es) f Swahili: chama (sw) Swedish: förening (sv) c Tagalog: samahan (tl) Telugu: సంఘం (te) (saṅghaṁ) Ukrainian: товари́ство (uk) n (tovarýstvo), суспі́льство n (suspílʹstvo), спі́лка (uk) f (spílka) Welsh: cymdeithas (cy) c

people of one’s country or community as a whole

Arabic: اِجْتِمَاعِيَّة f (ijtimāʕiyya) Armenian: հասարակություն (hy) (hasarakutʻyun) Bulgarian: обще́ственост (bg) f (obštéstvenost) Czech: společnost (cs) f Dutch: gezelschap (nl) Finnish: yhteisö (fi) Galician: sociedade (gl) f German: Gesellschaft (de) f Greek: κοινωνία (el) f (koinonía) Icelandic: samfélag (is) n (usually with definite article) Indonesian: masyarakat (id) Italian: società (it) f Korean: 사회(社會) (ko) (sahoe) Kyrgyz: коом (ky) (koom) Maltese: soċjetà, ġens Maori: porihanga Polish: społeczeństwo (pl) n, naród (pl) m Portuguese: sociedade (pt) f Romanian: societate (ro), mediu (ro) Russian: наро́д (ru) m (naród) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: дру́штво n, за̏једница f Roman: drúštvo (sh) n, zȁjednica (sh) f Sicilian: sucità f, cumunità (scn) f Spanish: sociedad (es) f, comunidad (es) f Swedish: samhälle (sv) n Tagalog: sambayanan Telugu: సంపన్న వర్గం (sampanna vargaṁ)

high society — see high society

References

1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “society”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Further reading

• "society" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 291.