Adjacent Words

caste definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: social status or position conferred by a system based on class; "lose caste by doing work beneath one's station"
2: (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity
3: a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth
4: in some social insects (such as ants) a physically distinct individual or group of individuals specialized to perform certain functions in the colony

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Portuguese casta, literally, race, lineage, from feminine of casto pure, chaste, from Latin castus Date: 1613 1. one of the hereditary social classes in Hinduism that restrict the occupation of their members and their association with the members of other castes 2. a. a division of society based on differences of wealth, inherited rank or privilege, profession, occupation, or race b. the position conferred by caste standing ; prestige 3. a system of rigid social stratification characterized by hereditary status, endogamy, and social barriers sanctioned by custom, law, or religion 4. a specialized form (as the worker of an ant or bee) of a polymorphic social insect that carries out a particular function in the colony • casteism noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 any of the Hindu hereditary classes whose members have no social contact with other classes, but are socially equal with one another and often follow the same occupations. 2 a more or less exclusive social class. 3 a system of such classes. 4 the position it confers. 5 Zool. a form of social insect having a particular function. Phrases and idioms: caste mark a symbol on the forehead denoting a person's caste. lose caste descend in the social order. Etymology: Sp. and Port. casta lineage, race, breed, fem. of casto pure, CHASTE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Caste Caste, n. [Pg. casta race, lineage, fr. L. castus pure, chaste: cf. F. caste, of same origin.] 1. One of the hereditary classes into which the Hindoos are divided according to the laws of Brahmanism. Note: The members of the same caste are theoretically of equal rank, and same profession or occupation, and may not eat or intermarry with those not of their own caste. The original are four, viz., the Brahmans, or sacerdotal order; the Kshatriyas, or soldiers and rulers; the Vaisyas, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sudras, or laborers and mechanics. Men of no caste are Pariahs, outcasts. Numerous mixed classes, or castes, have sprung up in the progress of time. 2. A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves. The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste. --Macaulay. To lose caste, to be degraded from the caste to which one has belonged; to lose social position or consideration.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(castes) 1. A caste is one of the traditional social classes into which people are divided in a Hindu society. Most of the upper castes worship the Goddess Kali. N-COUNT 2. Caste is the system of dividing people in a society into different social classes. The caste system shapes nearly every facet of Indian life.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Permanent hereditary order (among tke Hindoos), Varna, fixed class. 2. Social order (generally), class-distinction, class, rank, grade of society.

Moby Thesaurus

ashram, blood, body, bracket, branch, category, clan, class, colony, commonwealth, commune, community, condition, division, echelon, economic class, endogamous group, estate, extended family, family, footing, gens, grade, group, grouping, head, heading, hierarchy, kin, kinship group, label, level, moiety, nuclear family, order, phratria, phratry, phyle, pigeonhole, place, position, power structure, precedence, predicament, race, rank, rate, rating, rubric, section, sept, set, settlement, social class, society, sphere, stage, standing, station, status, strain, stratum, subcaste, subdivision, subgroup, suborder, title, totem