group

American  

[groop] / grup /

noun

• groups
  plural

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.

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)

• groups,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grouped,
  past participle,  past
• grouping
  present participle

1. to place or associate together in a group, as with others.

2. to arrange in or form into a group or groups.

   Synonyms:

   combine, classify, organize, order

verb (used without object)

• groups,
  present (3rd person singular)
• grouped,
  past participle,  past
• grouping
  present participle

1. to form a group.

2. to be part of a group.

group British  

/ ɡruːp /

noun

1. a number of persons or things considered as a collective unit

2. 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

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 purpose

   a 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 unit Compare free radical

    a methyl group -CH3

11. a vertical column of elements in the periodic table that all have similar electronic structures, properties, and valencies Compare period

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

group Scientific  

/ gro̅o̅p /

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.

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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Grammar

See collective noun.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• supergroup
  noun
• ungrouped
  adjective
• groupwise
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• groups
  plural

Participles

• grouping
  present
• grouped
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• group
  simple
• groups
  simple
• have grouped
  perfect
• has grouped
  perfect
• am grouping
  progressive
• are grouping
  progressive
• is grouping
  progressive
• have been grouping
  perfect progressive
• has been grouping
  perfect progressive

Past

• grouped
  simple
• had grouped
  perfect
• was grouping
  progressive
• were grouping
  progressive
• had been grouping
  perfect progressive

Future

• will group
  simple
• will have grouped
  perfect
• will be grouping
  progressive
• will have been grouping
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of group

First recorded in 1665–75; from French groupe, from Italian gruppo, ultimately from Germanic

Explanation

A group is an organization of people or things, like a reading group at a public library that holds book discussions every month. Group comes from the word for lump, or cluster. If you're out walking at night and see a group of wild dogs coming at you, best to go the other way. You could always find a group of people to walk with if you don't want to be alone. Group can also be used as a verb. If you're painting a still life, you might collect a bunch of objects from your house and group them together in an eye-pleasing arrangement.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

group groups grouped grouping

Earlier this year, TikTok split its business ownership, with a new group of investors taking control of operations in the US.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

The lead singer of ska and 2 Tone group The Selecter, Pauline Black, agrees.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

But a group called People Not Politicians and its executive director, Richard von Glahn, gathered more than 300,000 signatures for a referendum to challenge the new law before it took effect.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

Von Glahn and his group of voters sued and won a unanimous decision from the Missouri Supreme Court on Sept. 3.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

A second later I realized with a shiver down my spine that I was meeting the national group.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Only rather than asking after lost jumpers and what day PE is, these groups might be used to try to parent long-distance.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

The U.S. has long provided Ecuador and other Latin American governments with intelligence, equipment and training to help fight powerful criminal groups that send drugs north and unleash violence at home.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

In recent weeks, those fundraising efforts have been overshadowed by the much larger influx of money being collected by labor unions, business groups, real estate developers and others looking to boost their favored mayoral candidate.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

For all age groups, employment in jobs with high AI exposure fell 0.6% from a year ago, and employment in the least-exposed jobs increased 0.2%, researchers said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 25, 2026

When it’s time for the groups to talk, Denny is full of ideas.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Many athletes have posted videos of themselves, grouped around the message "this is what sport looks like".

From Barron's ● Sep. 14, 2026

He has been grouped with five-time major winner Brooks Koepka and European Ryder Cup team-mate Robert MacIntyre.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

To better understand what states are up against, it’s helpful to break down where things now stand in several key states, grouped by mail-ballot status:

From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2026

The scattered survivors can loosely be grouped into two categories: “Swiss Family Robinson” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Every time he grouped notes together with a ligature, he meant that those notes should be shorter than the others.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

"There are countries in the grouping which would like it to become anti-western, but it is not that," says Anil Trigunayat, a veteran Indian diplomat and former ambassador.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

Granted, it’s by definition not the most diversified grouping, but right now it’s a way to ride the AI trade without worrying much about what the U.S. or Iran will do next.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 2, 2026

Thematic grouping of disparate work has become a popular, though not uncontroversial, trend.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

Champagne added that the smaller grouping, of which both Canada and the United States are also a part, will continue being firm in its support for Ukraine.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

Dingiswayo developed a superior centralized military organization by drafting young men from all villages and grouping them into regiments by age rather than by their village.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• association
• band
• body
• class
• club
• company
• crowd
• faction
• gang
• organization
• party
• society
• troop