sociological
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of sociology and its methodology.
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dealing with social questions or problems, especially focusing on cultural and environmental factors rather than on psychological or personal characteristics.
a sociological approach to art.
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organized into a society; social.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sociological
First recorded in 1835–45; sociolog(y) + -ic + -al 1
Explanation
Anything sociological has to do with how society works. Sociological research — like, say, a sociological study that looks at economic inequality in a country — focuses on what people are doing not as individuals but as a group, Sociology is the study of how societies function—the way they form, what rules they follow, the way change affects them, and so on. Things that are related to sociology are sociological, and people who are particularly interested in sociological things are sociologists. They study things like the effects of technology or the role of art in a society. The Latin root of sociological is socius, "associate."
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.
“Barry wisely said, ‘That’s more of a sociological experiment where you’re playing God,’” Sosnoff recalls.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Jukka Savolainen, a professor of criminology and sociology at Wayne State University, says too much sociological research is a “waste of resources” and a missed opportunity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
But sociologists in the scholar-activist mold note that Du Bois also believed in using sociological truth in the pursuit of activism, promising in 1906 to “never cease to protest and assail the ears of America.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
More interesting are the ideological and sociological reasons why the ban may have unintended negative consequences.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
Once again the people are not sociological categories.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
