deme
Americannoun
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one of the administrative divisions of ancient Attica and of modern Greece.
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Biology. a local population of organisms of the same kind, especially one in which the genetic mix is similar throughout the group.
noun
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(in preclassical Greece) the territory inhabited by a tribe
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(in ancient Attica) a geographical unit of local government
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biology a group of individuals within a species that possess particular characteristics of cytology, genetics, etc
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A small, locally interbreeding group of organisms within a larger population. Demes are isolated reproductively from other members of their species, although the isolation may only be partial and is not necessarily permanent. Because they share a somewhat restricted gene pool, members of a deme generally differ morphologically to some degree from members of other demes.
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See also population
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of deme
First recorded in 1620–30, deme is from the Greek word dêmos a district, the people, commons
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.
When Feldstein left aca deme for Washington in the summer of 1982, he entered a foreign world.
From Time Magazine Archive
I would she did well, God knoweth it, and ye deme, as I trow, if I had found her at home here my comfort should have been the more; but I thank God of all.
From Medieval People by Eileen Edna Power
In point of fact membership was hereditary, not residential; Demosthenes “of the Paeanian deme” might live where he would without severing his deme connexion.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 4 "Cincinnatus" to "Cleruchy" by Various
And when he said he was a Plataean, I asked from what deme he was, on the suggestion of a bystander that I should call him before the tribe to which he pretended to belong.
From The Orations of Lysias by Lysias
When political society was instituted on the basis of the deme or township, and all the residents of the deme became a body politic, irrespective of their gens or tribe, the coalescence became complete.
From Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines by Lewis H. Morgan
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.
