Society

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: so=ci=e=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

Society, n. [L. societas, fr. socius a companion: cf. F. société. See Social.].

•  The relationship of men to one another when associated in any way; companionship; fellowship; company.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "There is society where none intrudes
  By the deep sea, and music in its roar."  [1913 Webster]
•  Connection; participation; partnership.  [1913 Webster]

  "The meanest of the people and such as have the least society with the acts and crimes of kings."  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  Specifically, the more cultivated portion of any community in its social relations and influences; those who mutually give receive formal entertainments.  [1913 Webster]

Society of Jesus. See Jesuit. -- Society verses [a translation of F. vers de société], the lightest kind of lyrical poetry; verses for the amusement of polite society.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Society, n. (pl. -ies)
1 the sum of human conditions and activity regarded as a whole functioning interdependently.
2 a social community (all societies must have firm laws).
3 a a social mode of life. b the customs and organization of an ordered community.
4 Ecol. a plant community.
5 a the socially advantaged or prominent members of a community (society would not approve). b this, or a part of it, qualified in some way (is not done in polite society).
6 participation in hospitality; other people's homes or company (avoids society).
7 companionship, company (avoids the society of such people).
8 an association of persons united by a common aim or interest or principle (formed a music society).

Idiom

Society of Friends see QUAKER. Society of Jesus see JESUIT.

Derivative

societal adj. (esp. in sense 1). societally adv.

Etymology

F soci{eacute}t{eacute} f. L societas -tatis f. socius companion

THESAURUS

Society

Bund, Everyman, John Doe, Public, Rochdale cooperative, Vanity Fair, academy, acculturation, affiliation, alliance, ashram, assemblage, assembly, association, associational, axis, band, bash, beau monde, beautiful people, belt, best people, biff, bloc, body, body politic, bop, box, branch, brethren, brotherhood, buffet, bust, cafe society, camaraderie, carriage trade, caste, chop, church, churchgoers, circle, citizenry, civilization, clan, class, clout, club, coalition, coalitional, college, colony, combination, combine, common man, common market, commonwealth, communal, commune, communion, community, community at large, companionship, company, complex, confederacy, confederation, confraternity, confrerie, congregation, consociation, consortship, constituency, consumer cooperative, cooperation, cooperative, cooperative society, corps, council, country club, cream of society, credit union, cultural community, cultural drift, culture, culture area, culture center, culture complex, culture conflict, culture contact, culture pattern, culture trait, customs union, denomination, division, drawing room, dwellers, economic class, economic community, elite, endogamous group, estate, ethnic group, ethos, everybody, everyman, everyone, everywoman, extended family, faction, family, fashionable society, federation, fellowship, flock, fold, folk, folks, folkways, fraternal order, fraternity, fraternization, free trade area, friendship, gang, general public, gens, gentry, good society, group, grouping, guild, habitancy, haut monde, high life, high society, in-crowd, inhabitants, institute, intercourse, jet set, jeunesse doree, key trait, kinship group, laity, laymen, league, linguistic community, machine, mankind, masses, membership, men, minyan, mob, moiety, monde, mores, nation, nationality, nonclerics, nonordained persons, nuclear family, offshoot, order, organization, organizational, parish, parishioners, partaking, participation, partnership, party, paste, people, people at large, people in general, people of fashion, persons, persuasion, phratria, phratry, phyle, polite society, political machine, polity, populace, population, public, punch, race, religious order, right people, ring, salon, schism, school, secret society, sect, sectarism, seculars, segment, settlement, sharing, sheep, sisterhood, slap, smack, smart set, smash, sociable, social, social class, social register, societe, sock, sodality, sorority, speech community, state, stock, strain, subcaste, system, the Four Hundred, the public, thwack, totem, trait, trait-complex, union, upper classes, upper crust, uppercut, variety, version, way of life, welt, whack, whole people, world, world of fashion, you and me

ROGET THESAURUS

Society

Party

N party, faction, side, denomination, communion, set, crew, band, horde, posse, phalanx, family, clan, team, tong, council, community, body, fellowship, sodality, solidarity, confraternity, familistere, familistery, brotherhood, sisterhood, knot, gang, clique, ring, circle, group, crowd, in-crowd, coterie, club, casino, machine, Tammany, Tammany Hall, corporation, corporate body, guild, establishment, company, copartnership, partnership, firm, house, joint concern, joint-stock company, cahoot, combine, trust, society, association, institute, institution, union, trades union, league, syndicate, alliance, Verein, Bund, Zollverein, combination, Turnverein, league offensive and defensive, alliance offensive and defensive, coalition, federation, confederation, confederacy, junto, cabal, camarilla, camorra, brigue, freemasonry, party spirit, Confederates, Conservatives, Democrats, Federalists, Federals, Freemason, Knight Templar, Kuklux, Kuklux Klan, KKK, Liberals, Luddites, Republicans, Socialists, Tories, Whigs staff, dramatis personae, in league, in partnership, in alliance, bonded together, banded together, linked, joined together, embattled, confederated, federative, joint, hand in hand, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, en masse, in the same boat.

Laity

N laity, flock, fold, congregation, assembly, brethren, people, society, temporality, secularization, layman, civilian, parishioner, catechumen, secularist, secular, lay, laical, civil, temporal, profane.

Fashion

N fashion, style, ton, bon ton, society, good society, polite society, monde, drawing-room, civilized life, civilization, town, beau monde, high life, court, world, fashionable world, gay world, Vanity Fair, show, manners, breeding, air, demeanor, savoir faire, gentlemanliness, gentility, decorum, propriety, biens_eance, conventions of society, Mrs, Grundy, punctilio, form, formality, etiquette, point of etiquette, dress, custom, mode, vogue, go, rage, prevailing taste, fad, trend, bandwagon, furore, thing, in thing, craze, chic, last word, man of fashion, woman of fashion, man of the world, woman of the world, height of fashion, pink of fashion, star of fashion, glass of fashion, leader of fashion, arbiter elegantiarum, the beautiful people, the fashion set, upper ten thousand, elite, smart set, the four hundred, in crowd, fashionable, in fashion, a la mode, comme il faut, admitted in society, admissible in society, presentable, conventional, genteel, well-bred, well mannered, well behaved, well spoken, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly, ladylike, civil, polite, polished, refined, thoroughbred, courtly, distingue, unembarrassed, degage, janty, jaunty, dashing, fast, modish, stylish, chic, trendy, recherche, newfangled, all the rage, all the go, with it, in, faddish, in court, in full dress, in evening dress, en grande tenue, fashionably, for fashion's sake, a la francaise, a la parisienne, a l' anglaise, a l' americaine, autre temps autre mauers, chaque pays a sa guise.

Sociality

N sociality, sociability, sociableness, social intercourse, consociation, intercourse, intercommunity, consortship, companionship, comradeship, clubbism, esprit de corps, conviviality, good fellowship, good company, joviality, jollity, savoir vivre, festivity, festive board, merrymaking, loving cup, hospitality, heartiness, cheer, welcome, welcomeness, greeting, hearty welcome, hearty reception, warm reception, urbanity, familiarity, good fellow, jolly fellow, bon enfant, bawcock, social circle, family circle, circle of acquaintance, coterie, society, company, social gathering, social reunion, assembly, barbecue, bee, corn-husking, corn-shucking, house raising, barn raising, husking, husking-bee, infare, party, entertainment, reception, levee, at, home, conversazione, soiree, matin_ee, evening party, morning party, afternoon party, bridge party, garden party, surprise party, kettle, kettle drum, partie carr_ee, dish of tea, ridotto, rout, housewarming, ball, festival, smoker, smoker-party, sociable, stag party, hen party, tamasha, tea-party, tea-fight, (amusement), the feast of reason and the flow of soul, birthday party, Christmas party, New Year's Eve party, Thanksgiving Day Dinner, bonenkai, wedding reception, visiting, round of visits, call, morning call, interview, assignation, tryst, trysting place, appointment, club, sociable, companionable, clubbable, conversable, cosy, cosey, chatty, conversational, homiletical, convivial, festive, festal, jovial, jolly, hospitable, welcome, welcome as the roses in May, f=eted, entertained, free and easy, hall fellow well met, familiar, on visiting terms, acquainted, social, neighborly, international, gregarious, en famille, in the family circle, sans fa, arm in arm, a crowd is not company, be bright and jovial among your guests tonight, his worth is warrant for his welcome, let's be red with mirth, welcome the coming speed the parting guest.

Mankind

N man, mankind, human race, human species, human kind, human nature, humanity, mortality, flesh, generation, anthropology, anthropogeny, anthropography, anthroposophy, ethnology, ethnography, humanitarian, human being, person, personage, individual, creature, fellow creature, mortal, body, somebody, one, such a one, some one, soul, living soul, earthling, party, head, hand, dramatis personae, quidam, people, persons, folk, public, society, world, community, community at large, general public, nation, nationality, state, realm, commonweal, commonwealth, republic, body politic, million, population, tribe, clan (paternity), family (consanguinity), cosmopolite, lords of the creation, ourselves, human, mortal, personal, individual, national, civic, public, social, cosmopolitan, anthropoid, am I not a man and a brother?.