social contract

[ soh-shuhl kon-trakt ]

noun
  1. the voluntary agreement among individuals by which, according to any of various theories, as of Hobbes, Locke, or Rousseau, organized society is brought into being and invested with the right to secure mutual protection and welfare or to regulate the relations among its members.

  2. an agreement for mutual benefit between an individual or group and the government or community as a whole.

Origin of social contract

1
First recorded in 1840–50
  • Also called so·cial com·pact [soh-shuhl kom-pakt] /ˈsoʊ ʃəl ˈkɒm pækt/ .

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use social contract in a sentence

  • By the social compact we have given the body politic existence and life: we have now by legislation to give it movement and will.

    The Social Contract & Discourses | Jean-Jacques Rousseau

British Dictionary definitions for social contract

social contract

noun
  1. (in the theories of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, and others) an agreement, entered into by individuals, that results in the formation of the state or of organized society, the prime motive being the desire for protection, which entails the surrender of some or all personal liberties

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