# society
## English
### 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.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /səˈsaɪ.ə.ti/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

society (countable and uncountable, plural societies)
* (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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (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.
* (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."
* (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
* 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
### References

* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “society”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Further reading

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