guilds

Cultural  

1. Organizations of artisans in the Middle Ages that sought to regulate the price and quality of products such as weaving and ironwork. Guilds survived into the eighteenth century.

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Guilds gave way to trade unions, a very different type of organization. The artisans in the guilds were self-employed, unlike most members of trade unions.

Example Sentences

Around the fair, you have the opportunity to interact with several guilds and performance tropes.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

“Through the work of OHP, the Academy has also become the primary preservation repository for filmmaker interviews from the guilds and other sources,” notes the organization’s website.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2026

Its roots lie in the medieval stonemasons' guilds, and members still meet in "lodges" to carry out secretive initiation rituals and ceremonies based on allegories such as the building of King Solomon's Temple.

From BBC • Sep. 29, 2025

Hollywood guilds such as SAG-AFTRA have been outspoken about the harm AI could have on jobs and have fought for protections against AI in contracts in TV shows, films and video games.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 30, 2025

The economic basis of Polynesian societies consisted of more or less self-sufficient households, but some islands also supported guilds of hereditary part-time craft specialists.

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