Great Society

American  

noun

1. the goal of the Democratic Party under the leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson, chiefly to enact domestic programs to improve education, provide medical care for the aged, and eliminate poverty.

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Great Society Cultural  

1. The name President Lyndon Johnson gave to his aims in domestic policy. The programs of the Great Society had several goals, including clean air and water, expanded educational opportunities, and the lessening of poverty and disease in the United States. (See War on Poverty.)

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How does great-society compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• New Deal vs. Great Society

Example Sentences

Washington countered with a vision bearing the confident stamp of the Great Society era in American politics—the belief that a complex metropolis could still be shaped, and improved, by comprehensive design.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

Both of these programs, which were part of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiative in the 1960s, are designed to prevent poverty and unnecessary death in old age.

From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026

According to a 1965 profile in Time magazine, Moyers was a key figure in assembling Johnson’s ambitious domestic policy initiatives known as the Great Society.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 26, 2025

Johnson also used Sequoia to discuss Vietnam strategy and to convince lawmakers to support his Great Society reforms.

From Slate • Dec. 30, 2024

It was part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was modeled after the Depression era’s Civilian Conservation Corps.

From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore