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group

[groop]
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noun
  1. any collection or assemblage of persons or things; cluster; aggregation: a group of protesters; a remarkable group of paintings.
  2. a number of persons or things ranged or considered together as being related in some way.
  3. Also called radical. Chemistry. two or more atoms specifically arranged, as the hydroxyl group, –OH.Compare free radical.
  4. Linguistics.
    1. (in the classification of related languages within a family) a category of a lower order than a subbranch and of a higher order than a subgroup: the Low German group of West Germanic languages.
    2. any grouping of languages, whether it is made on the basis of geography, genetic relationship, or something else.
  5. Geology. a division of stratified rocks comprising two or more formations.
  6. Military.
    1. Army.a flexible administrative and tactical unit consisting of two or more battalions and a headquarters.
    2. Air Force.an administrative and operational unit subordinate to a wing, usually composed of two or more squadrons.
  7. Music. a section of an orchestra comprising the instruments of the same class.
  8. Art. a number of figures or objects shown in an arrangement together.
  9. Mathematics. an algebraic system that is closed under an associative operation, as multiplication or addition, and in which there is an identity element that, on operating on another element, leaves the second element unchanged, and in which each element has corresponding to it a unique element that, on operating on the first, results in the identity element.
  10. Grammar (chiefly British ). a phrase: nominal group; verbal group.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to place or associate together in a group, as with others.
  2. to arrange in or form into a group or groups.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to form a group.
  2. to be part of a group.
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Origin of group

1665–75; < French groupe < Italian gruppo ≪ Germanic
Related formsgroup·wise, adverbsu·per·group, nounun·grouped, adjective

Synonyms

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12. order, organize, classify, combine.

Usage note

1, 2. See collective noun.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

bodycrowdfactionclubcompanybandgangpartysocietyorganizationclassassociationtroopmeetarrangeorganizegathercategorizebevygathering

Examples from the Web for group

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The Milbreys, father and son, came up and greeted the group on the piazza.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • Mrs. Bines, so complacent overnight, was the most disconsolate one of the group.

    The Spenders

    Harry Leon Wilson

  • He always kept a group with him, and people said that he was wise to do it.

  • There is not a country in which one group is not afraid of some other group.

  • But of the arc which He disclosed no one group of His followers has as yet perceived the whole.

British Dictionary definitions for group

group

noun
  1. a number of persons or things considered as a collective unit
    1. a number of persons bound together by common social standards, interests, etc
    2. (as modifier)group behaviour
  3. a small band of players or singers, esp of pop music
  4. a number of animals or plants considered as a unit because of common characteristics, habits, etc
  5. grammar another word, esp in systemic grammar, for phrase (def. 1)
  6. an association of companies under a single ownership and control, consisting of a holding company, subsidiary companies, and sometimes associated companies
  7. two or more figures or objects forming a design or unit in a design, in a painting or sculpture
  8. a military formation comprising complementary arms and services, usually for a purposea brigade group
  9. an air force organization of higher level than a squadron
  10. Also called: radical chem two or more atoms that are bound together in a molecule and behave as a single unita methyl group -CH 3 Compare free radical
  11. a vertical column of elements in the periodic table that all have similar electronic structures, properties, and valenciesCompare period (def. 8)
  12. geology any stratigraphical unit, esp the unit for two or more formations
  13. maths a set that has an associated operation that combines any two members of the set to give another member and that also contains an identity element and an inverse for each element
  14. See blood group
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verb
  1. to arrange or place (things, people, etc) in or into a group or (of things, etc) to form into a group
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Word Origin

C17: from French groupe, of Germanic origin; compare Italian gruppo; see crop
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for group

n.

1690s, originally an art criticism term, "assemblage of figures or objects in a painting or design," from French groupe "cluster, group" (17c.), from Italian gruppo "group, knot," perhaps ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruppaz "round mass, lump," and related to crop. Extended to "any assemblage" by 1736. Meaning "pop music combo" is from 1958.

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v.

1718 (transitive), 1801 (intransitive), from group (n.). Related: Grouped; grouping.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
group in Medicine

group

(grōōp)
n.
  1. An assemblage of persons or objects gathered or located together; an aggregation.
  2. A class or collection of related objects or entities.
  3. Two or more atoms that behave or that are regarded as behaving as a single chemical unit.
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v.
  1. To place or arrange in a group.
  2. To belong to or form a group.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
group in Science

group

[grōōp]
  1. Chemistry
    1. Two or more atoms that are bound together and act as a unit in a number of chemical compounds, such as a hydroxyl (OH) group.
    2. In the Periodic Table, a vertical column that contains elements having the same number of electrons in the outermost shell of their atoms. Elements in the same group have similar chemical properties. See Periodic Table.
  2. Mathematics A set with an operation whose domain is all ordered pairs of members of the set, such that the operation is binary (operates on two elements) and associative, the set contains the identity element of the operation, and each element of the set has an inverse element for the operation. The positive and negative integers and zero form a set that is a group under the operation of ordinary addition, since zero is the identity element of addition and the negative of each integer is its inverse. Groups are used extensively in quantum physics and chemistry to model phenomena involving symmetry and invariance.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.