social unit

noun

1. a person or a group of persons, as a family, functioning as a unit in society.

Word History and Origins

Origin of social unit¹

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Previous work on sperm whale communication has mostly used vocal repertoires to distinguish between individual whales, social units, or clans.

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By contrast, a son doesn’t bring more mouths into the group—he mates with females in passing pods who then go on to raise offspring in their own social units.

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“It was really awful for me. We aren’t a big family, but we have our mishpachah,” — the Yiddish word for family or social unit — “and our traditions.”

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Chesney said his mission is to build a sustainable social unit that looks after the water.

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“We are not recommending at this point in time that people should be in social units together.”

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