caste system
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of caste system
First recorded in 1810–20
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.
India also has a large number of “tribals,” who are outside the caste system but part of the quota system.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
North Korean society is deeply hierarchical, with some analysts comparing it to a caste system.
From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026
White working-class and precarious middle-class voters were alarmed not only at the upending of the racial caste system but also at what they saw as an unraveling of society in general.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
There a medieval caste system has bred, not surprisingly, rebellion and the suspicion that all is not what it seems above ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
Indeed, a primary function of any racial caste system is to define the meaning of race in its time.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
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.
