English
class
see also: CLASS
Etymology

From Middle French classe, from Latin classis, from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁-.

Pronunciation
  • (RP, Ireland, New England) enPR: kläs, IPA: /klɑːs/
  • (Northern England, Scotland) enPR: klăs, IPA: /klæs/, /klas/
  • (America, New York City) enPR: klăs, IPA: /klæs/, /kleəs/
  • (India) IPA: /klɑ(ː)s/
Noun

class

  1. (countable) A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes.
    The new Ford Fiesta is set to be best in the 'small family' class.
    That is one class-A heifer you got there, sonny.
    Often used to imply membership of a large class.
    This word has a whole class of metaphoric extensions.
  2. (sociology, countable) A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes: upper class, middle class and working class.
  3. (uncountable) The division of society into classes.
    Jane Austen's works deal with class in 18th-century England.
  4. (uncountable) Admirable behavior; elegance.
    Apologizing for losing your temper, even though you were badly provoked, showed real class.
  5. (education, countable and uncountable) A group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher.
    The class was noisy, but the teacher was able to get their attention with a story.
  6. A series of lessons covering a single subject.
    I took the cooking class for enjoyment, but I also learned a lot.
  7. (countable) A group of students who commenced or completed their education during a particular year. A school class.
    The class of 1982 was particularly noteworthy.
  8. (countable) A category of seats in an airplane, train or other means of mass transportation.
    I used to fly business class, but now my company can only afford economy.
  9. (taxonomy, countable) A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank.
    Magnolias belong to the class Magnoliopsida.
  10. Best of its kind.
    It is the class of Italian bottled waters.
  11. (statistics) A grouping of data values in an interval, often used for computation of a frequency distribution.
  12. (set theory) A collection of sets definable by a shared property, especially one which is not itself a set (in which case the class is called proper).
    The class of all sets is not a set.
    Every set is a class, but classes are not generally sets. A class that is not a set is called a proper class.
  13. (military) A group of people subject to be conscripted in the same military draft, or more narrowly those persons actually conscripted in a particular draft.
  14. (object-oriented, countable) A set of objects having the same behavior (but typically differing in state), or a template defining such a set in terms of its common properties, functions, etc.
    an abstract base class
  15. One of the sections into which a Methodist church or congregation is divided, supervised by a class leader.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Verb

class (classes, present participle classing; simple past and past participle classed)

  1. (transitive) To assign to a class; to classify.
    I would class this with most of the other mediocre works of the period.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
      She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […] ; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
  2. (intransitive) To be grouped or classed.
    • 1790, Edward Tatham, The Chart and Scale of Truth:
      the genus or family under which it classes
  3. (transitive) To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes.
Translations Adjective

class (not comparable)

  1. (Irish, Geordie, slang) great; fabulous
    • 2009, Erik Qualman, Socialnomics:
      To talented authors Tim Ash and Brian Reich for introducing me to John Wiley & Sons—a truly class outfit.
Related terms
CLASS
Proper noun
  1. (astronomy) Abbreviation of Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor
  2. (astronomy) Abbreviation of Cosmology Large Angular Scale Survey


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