gesellschaft

[ German guh-zel-shahft ]

noun,plural ge·sell·schaf·ten [German guh-zel-shahf-tuhn]. /German gəˈzɛlˌʃɑf tən/. (often initial capital letter)
  1. an association of individuals for common goals, as for entertainment, intellectual, or cultural purposes or for business reasons.

  2. Sociology. a society or group characterized chiefly by formal organization, impersonal relations, the absence of generally held or binding norms, and a detachment from traditional and sentimental concerns, and often tending to be rationalistic and secular in outlook.

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Origin of gesellschaft

1
1935–40; <German, equivalent to Geselle companion + -schaft-ship

Words Nearby gesellschaft

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How to use gesellschaft in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for gesellschaft

gesellschaft

/ (German ɡəˈzɛlʃaft) /


nounplural -schaften (German -ʃaftən)
  1. (often capital) a social group held together by practical concerns, formal and impersonal relationships, etc: Compare gemeinschaft

Origin of gesellschaft

1
German, literally: society

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