n.
(pl. societies)
- the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.
▸a particular community of people.
▸
(also high society)
people who are fashionable, wealthy, and influential, regarded as forming a distinct group.
- a plant or animal community.
- an organization or club formed for a particular purpose or activity.
- the situation of being in the company of other people:
she shunned the society of others.
Derivative
- societal adj.
- societally adv.
Etymology
C16: from Fr. société, from L. societas, from socius ‘companion’.