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

Adnan Hmidan, chairman of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, said the community was "deeply shocked and saddened" by what had happened.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

There was also richer fare on offer: In announcing the project, the company pledged to invest $80 million in the community and provide as much as $71 million in coding credits to local students.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

They carefully set out to connect with the international literary community and went through the slow process of launching Transit as a nonprofit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

The seven-bedroom, 13-bathroom property spans more than 14,000 square feet and is located in the ultralavish gated community of North Beverly Park.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Ben says consistency within our schedules and across our community is important.

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

His idea sounds less wild when you recall that we’re really talking about small communities being targeted by hostile foreign actors, leading Braun to reason that the Department of Defense could possibly fund his effort.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

If Ms. Josephson wants her students to forsake communities, she needs to convince them that their lives as successful individuals will be better than their lives as successful members of the collective.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

"It is destruction of the communities, it's destruction of families... this is a disaster", he told the BBC.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

"At the same time, we need to ensure that women across all Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities have access to culturally appropriate education, screening, and timely follow-up care."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Remarkably, even in communities devastated by mass incarceration, many people struggling to cope with the stigma of imprisonment have no idea that their neighbors are struggling with the same grief, shame, and isolation.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Related Words

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