social studies

American  

noun

1. a course of instruction in an elementary or secondary school comprising such subjects as history, geography, civics, etc.

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social studies British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular) the study of how people live and organize themselves in society, embracing geography, history, economics, and other subjects

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Etymology

Origin of social studies

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

social studies

To answer that, it’s worth going back to seventh grade social studies.

From Slate ● Sep. 9, 2026

Audiences, including the middle school social studies students, deserve better and more nuanced stories about this country and the values it was built upon.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

And Narbé — a 5th- and 6th-grade social studies teacher in Hollywood — had no qualms about backing these Iranian men.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

Frankl became a friend and mentor to Eger, who taught middle-school social studies in El Paso and later earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Saybrook University.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

But that night—in addition to the math, science, social studies, and ELA assignments he’d already nailed—he was going to do some research.

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein