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• member
  member

  noun

  a person, animal, plant, group, etc., that is part of a society, party, community, taxon, or other body.
• Member
  Member

  noun

  short for Member of Parliament

member

American  

[mem-ber] / ˈmɛm bər /

noun

1. a person, animal, plant, group, etc., that is part of a society, party, community, taxon, or other body.

2. Government.

   1. a member of Congress, especially of the House of Representatives.

   2. a member of the British Parliament, especially of the House of Commons.

   3. any member of a legislative body.

3. a part or organ of an animal body; a limb, as a leg, arm, or wing.

4. Botany. a structural entity of a plant body.

5. the penis.

6. a constituent part of any structural or composite whole, as a subordinate architectural feature of a building.

   Synonyms:

   portion, element

7. Mathematics.

   1. either side of an equation.

   2. an element of a set.

8. Geology. a stratigraphic unit recognized within a formation, and mapped as such.

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adjective

1. being a member of or having membership in an association, organization, etc..

   member countries of the United Nations.

member ¹ British  

/ ˈmɛmbə /

noun

1. a person who belongs to a club, political party, etc

2. any individual plant or animal in a taxonomic group

   a member of the species

3. any part of an animal body, such as a limb

4. another word for penis

5. any part of a plant, such as a petal, root, etc

6. maths any individual object belonging to a set or logical class

7. a distinct part of a whole, such as a proposition in a syllogism

8. a component part of a building or construction

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Member ² British  

/ ˈmɛmbə /

noun

1. short for Member of Parliament

2. short for Member of Congress

3. a member of some other legislative body

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member Scientific  

/ mĕm′bər /

1. A quantity that belongs to a set.

2. The expression on either side of an equal sign.

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Other Word Forms

• memberless
  adjective
• submember
  noun

Etymology

Origin of member

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English membre, from Old French, from Latin membrum

Explanation

If you're a member, you belong to a group or club. The late comedian Groucho Marx famously said, "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." Go figure. When an object, like a plant or an element, is a member, it's also part of a group or class. A tiger, for example, is a member of the genus called Panthera, and it's also a member of the cat family. You're a member of the human species, and if you swim competitively, you're also a member of a swim team. The United States is a member, along with 192 other countries, of the United Nations. The Latin root of member is membrum, "part," and also "limb or part of the body."

Example Sentences

Mr. Levy is a visting fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and a member of the Shadow Open Market Committee.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 14, 2026

And Wickline is hard to miss; she’s only the third member of a small club, alongside Leslie Jones and Ellen Cleghorne, of the show’s 6-foot women.

From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2026

Cabinet member for rural resilience, responsible for farming, is Llŷr Gruffydd, while Sian Gwenllian becomes responsible for local government.

From BBC • May 13, 2026

Instead, the EU executive said it would issue a recommendation next year for member states to adopt national-level bans.

From Barron's • May 13, 2026

“Greg was forced to get short into the CDOs,” says a former senior member of Deutsche Bank’s CDO team.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Related Words

• male sex organ
• penis