social
Americanadjective
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relating to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations.
a social club.
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seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly; sociable; gregarious.
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of, relating to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society.
a social event.
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living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation.
People are social beings.
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of or relating to human society, especially as a body divided into classes according to status.
social rank.
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involved in many social activities.
We're so busy working, we have to be a little less social now.
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of or relating to the life, welfare, and relations of human beings in a community.
social problems.
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noting or relating to activities designed to remedy or alleviate certain unfavorable conditions of life in a community, especially among poor people.
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relating to or advocating the theory or system of socialism.
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Digital Technology. noting or relating to online technologies, activities, etc., that promote companionship or communication with friends and other personal contacts: the use of social software to share expertise.
social websites such as Facebook;
the use of social software to share expertise.
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Zoology. living habitually together in communities, as bees or ants.
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Botany. growing in patches or clumps.
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Rare. occurring or taking place between allies or confederates.
noun
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socials
plural
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a social gathering or party, especially of or as given by an organized group.
a church social.
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Digital Technology. social media.
photos posted to social.
adjective
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living or preferring to live in a community rather than alone
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denoting or relating to human society or any of its subdivisions
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of, relating to, or characteristic of the experience, behaviour, and interaction of persons forming groups
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relating to or having the purpose of promoting companionship, communal activities, etc
a social club
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relating to or engaged in social services
a social worker
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relating to or considered appropriate to a certain class of society, esp one thought superior
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(esp of certain species of insects) living together in organized colonies Compare solitary
social bees
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(of plant species) growing in clumps, usually over a wide area
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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socialnessnoun
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hypersocialadjective
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intersocialadjective
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nonsocialadjective
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pseudosocialadjective
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unsocialadjective
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sociallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of social
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, Middle French, from Latin sociālis, equivalent to soci(us) “partner, comrade, ally” (derivative of sequī “to follow”) + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
If you are social, you like to be around people. A social butterfly is someone who is social or friendly with everyone, flitting from person to person, the way a butterfly might. The word social comes from the Latin socius meaning "friend." When you're being social, you're everyone's friend. Go to a social, or mixer, and you might make a lot of new friends. Stand in the corner pouting, however, and you're being anti-social. Humans are described as social beings — ones that tend to move or live in groups together, like penguins!
Vocabulary lists containing social
Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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We the People: Soc
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"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 4
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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.
See Examples For:
Technology executive Barry McCardel is fed up—and he wants a new social compact: No work dinner should last more than two hours.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026
On Sunday, using a social media live stream, Thomas was able to organise a second, more impromptu protest of a few hundred people in his home city of Portsmouth.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
The operation used Claude to generate reports, advocacy materials, social media content and testimony on Sudan.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
“If you have a superadvanced intelligence, it will be smart enough to kill us,” said Jacob Coxon, the resigned Anthropic researcher whose social media post attracted over 150 million views.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
He told the social workers and he told the detective and he told everyone who asked.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The “Flowers” hitmaker dropped her last name on all of her socials.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
“It was on all the socials and friends were sending me videos,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
Many have suggested the focus should be on forcing socials to better police harmful content and limit the power of algorithms, while also preparing children for the reality of life on the web.
From BBC ● Dec. 6, 2025
“We often didn’t have a salary, but we kept working just to keep the socials alive.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
As he promised, the musicians were very talented and played the rags that had made everyone happy at previous socials.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
