community

American  

[kuh-myoo-ni-tee] / kəˈmju nɪ ti /

noun

• communities
  plural

1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

2. a locality inhabited by such a group.

3. a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists: the community of scholars;

   the business community;

   the community of scholars;

   diversity within a college community;

   London's Jewish and Muslim communities.

4. a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage.

   the community of Western Europe.

5. Ecclesiastical. a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.

6. Ecology. an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.

7. joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc..

   community of property.

8. similarity; agreement; identity.

   community of interests.

   Synonyms:

   likeness, correspondence

9. the community, the public; society.

   the needs of the community.

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community British  

/ kəˈmjuːnɪtɪ /

noun

1. 1. the people living in one locality

   2. the locality in which they live

   3. ( as modifier )

      community spirit

2. a group of people having cultural, religious, ethnic, or other characteristics in common

   the Protestant community

3. a group of nations having certain interests in common

4. the public in general; society

5. common ownership or participation

6. similarity or agreement

   community of interests

7. (in Wales since 1974 and Scotland since 1975) the smallest unit of local government; a subdivision of a district

8. ecology a group of interdependent plants and animals inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other through food and other relationships

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community Scientific  

/ kə-myo̅o̅′nĭ-tē /

1. A group of organisms or populations living and interacting with one another in a particular environment. The organisms in a community affect each other's abundance, distribution, and evolutionary adaptation. Depending on how broadly one views the interaction between organisms, a community can be small and local, as in a pond or tree, or regional or global, as in a biome.

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Usage

What is a community? A community is a social group whose members have something in common, such as a shared government, geographic location, culture, or heritage. Community can also refer to the physical location where such a group lives. It can refer to a town, city, village, or other area with a formal government whose residents share a nationality or culture, as in A group of town citizens decided to clean up the litter in their community. Community can also refer to the people who live in this area, as in Filipe was able to raise money for the city’s homeless shelter with help from the community. More generally, community can refer to a group that shares some trait or quality that separates it from the wider population as in Tracy was excited to find that the Muslim community in her city often held free talks on being a Muslim American. Example: Ria entered politics to help improve the lives of the people in her community. 

Synonym Usage

Community, hamlet, village, town, city are terms for groups of people living in somewhat close association, and usually under common rules. Community is a general term, and town is often loosely applied. A commonly accepted set of connotations envisages hamlet as a small group, village as a somewhat larger one, town still larger, and city as very large. Size is, however, not the true basis of differentiation, but properly sets off only hamlet. Incorporation, or the absence of it, and the type of government determine the classification of the others.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• communital
  adjective
• procommunity
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• communities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of community

First recorded in 1325–75; from Latin commūnitās, equivalent to commūni(s) “common” + -tās noun suffix; replacing Middle English comunete, from Middle French, from Latin as above; see common, -ty ²;

Explanation

If a number of people consider themselves one group based on location, work, religion, nationality, or even activity, they can be called a community. If you like to play online games, you are active in the gamer community. The original meaning of Latin communitatem "a sense of fellowship" shifted to mean "a specific group of people with a common interest" during the Middle Ages. The modern English word community has both of these meanings available. Street festivals or school fairs can help to develop a sense of community in schools or neighborhoods. If you start a campaign to clean up the community, you want to make the area you live in more attractive.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

community communities

Defector, a cooperative founded by former Deadspin staffers, bills itself as “the last good website,” and an appreciative community of subscribers seem to agree.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

She's cast out by the community, who look on her as a symbol of evil and bad luck.

From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026

One staffer at a pharmacy in Delray Beach, Fla., a community popular with retirees, posted on Instagram about an “air freshener emergency” not long ago.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

“While it’s likely that the developer will sue the city to fight this determination, the decision from the Planning Department puts the city, and our community, in a good position,” the councilman said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026

It shouldn’t be a surprise that living more closely with the land, in a self-sufficient community, is the right way to survive.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Kate Raphael writes for the LA Local, a nonprofit news site covering Los Angeles communities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Facebook’s fraudulent video metrics struck a massive blow against the writers and editors that maintained these digital communities.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

Tensions are rising as the scent perfumes senior centers and retirement communities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

After retiring in 2022, Cannom volunteered at the John Wesley Clinic in downtown Los Angeles, helping the homeless and underserved communities who might not otherwise receive cardiac care.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

For decades, black elites engaged in private rescue efforts to make black communities tidy, clean, and respectable in a futile effort to gain white approval.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

• association
• center
• company
• district
• nation
• neighborhood
• people
• public
• society
• state