societal
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of societal
Explanation
Use the adjective societal to describe something that is related to society, like the societal changes that came about as a result of the civil rights movement. People living together in a community make up a society, and anything connected to that group can be described as societal. Societal pressures are expectations that affect the entire community, or specific parts of it, like the pressure to get married and have children. Society, which is at the root of societal, has been used since the 1500s to mean "friendly association with others." The meaning shifted in the next one hundred years to refer specifically to an orderly community of people.
Vocabulary lists containing societal
"Laws are not the only way to boost immunization”: an editorial from Nature
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“For the Herd’s Sake, Vaccinate" by Steven L. Weinreb
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Holi Festival
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It's not just a technical solution. It's also a societal solution that we have to take."
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
He acknowledges that there are some well-established societal downsides to overuse of Meta’s social-media, especially among young people, but he appreciates “at least there’s no cloud in their revenue.”
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 30, 2026
Meta has said the litigation is trying to fix a sprawling societal issue with a patchwork of court rulings that, if successful, wouldn’t stop young people from using other types of social media.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
"And of course, we want to make a societal impact and Juva in Latin means 'to help'. So we really wanted to express that in the name as well."
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Naturally, the notion that environmental geography and biogeography influenced societal development is an old idea.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
