class

A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes.

Adjective

  1. great; fabulous
    • To talented authors Tim Ash and Brian Reich for introducing me to John Wiley & Sons—a truly class outfit. - 2009, Erik Qualman, Socialnomics:

Origin

From Middle French classe, from Latin classis (“a class or division of the people, assembly of people, the whole body of citizens called to arms, the army, the fleet, later a class or division in general”), from Proto-Indo-European *kelh₁- (“to call, shout”). Doublet of clas and classis.

Related

class act classify classless class picture classroom class up class war classy coach class steerage class

Noun

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
    • Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage...
  3. The division of society into classes.
    • Jane Austen's works deal with class in 18th-century England.
  4. Admirable behavior; elegance.
    • Apologizing for losing your temper, even though you were badly provoked, showed real class.
  5. 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. A single lesson in a series.
    • Tomorrow's class will cover long division.
  8. A group of students who commenced or completed their education during a particular year. A school class.
    • The class of 1982 was particularly noteworthy.
  9. a grade, standard, level of education.
  10. 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.
    • The City & South London was also the first British passenger railway to offer only one class. - 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 101:
  11. A rank in the classification of organisms, below phylum and above order; a taxon of that rank.
    • Magnolias belong to the class Magnoliopsida.
  12. Best of its kind.
    • It is the class of Italian bottled waters.
    • The mark made by Cory a new Central A. U. mark and he appears to be the class of the field in this event. - 1913 June 27, “The Crime Is Not in Making a Mistake, but in Repeating It.”, in Chicago Tribune:
    • University of Southern California's 7 to 0 defeat of the mighty Cardinal team ranked the victors the class of the far west - 1929 October 27, “89,000 Watch So. California Defeat Stanford, 7 to 0”, in Chicago Tribune:

Forms

classes

Synonyms

category class description stripe fashion division family genre ilk kind likes race rubric set sort type

Hyponyms

age class asset class business class cabin class character class closed class economy class equivalence class executive class first class form class fourth class Gevrey class Girard form class hard class leisure class middle class night class open class pitch class professional class school class second class social class

Related

class action class clown class diagram class enemy class reunion class struggle class tourism touch of class binomial biosystematics brand catalog cladistics classification heading hierarchy nomenclature rank systematics taxonomy classify Taxon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived

abstract factory class Aegis class cruiser airman first class anticlass back-class best in class booking class cattle class Chern class class A classable class action class adapter pattern class adviser class-based classbook class break class-conscious class consciousness classeme class envy classer classfellow class-free

Verb

  1. To assign to a class; to classify.
    • I would class this with most of the other mediocre works of the period.
    • 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...
  2. To be grouped or classed.
    • the genus or family under which it classes - 1790, Edward Tatham, The Chart and Scale of Truth:
  3. To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes.

Forms

classes classing classed

Derived

outclass subclass