class

class (kl

1. A set, collection, group, or configuration containing members regarded as having certain attributes or traits in common; a kind or category.

2. A division based on quality, rank, or grade, as:

a. A grade of mail: a package sent third class.

b. A quality of accommodation on public transport: tourist class.

a. A social stratum whose members share certain economic, social, or cultural characteristics: the lower-income classes.

b. Social rank or caste, especially high rank.

c. Informal Elegance of style, taste, and manner: an actor with class.

4. A level of academic development, as in an elementary or secondary school.

a. A group of students who are taught together because they have roughly the same level of academic development.

b. A group of students or alumni who have the same year of graduation.

c. A group of students who meet at a regularly scheduled time to study the same subject.

d. The period during which such a group meets: had to stay after class.

6. Biology A taxonomic category ranking below a phylum or division and above an order. See Table at taxonomy.

7. Statistics An interval in a frequency distribution.

8. Linguistics A group of words belonging to the same grammatical category that share a particular set of morphological properties, such as a set of inflections.

tr.v. classed, class·ing, class·es

To arrange, group, or rate according to qualities or characteristics; assign to a class; classify.

[French classe, from Latin classis, class of citizens; see kel-² in Indo-European roots.]

class

Noun

1. a group of people sharing a similar social and economic position

2. the system of dividing society into such groups

3. a group of people or things sharing a common characteristic

a. a group of pupils or students who are taught together

b. a meeting of a group of students for tuition

5. a standard of quality or attainment: second class

6. Informal excellence or elegance, esp. in dress, design, or behaviour: a full-bodied red wine with real class

7. Biol one of the groups into which a phylum is divided, containing one or more orders

8. in a class of its own or in a class by oneself without an equal for ability, talent, etc.

Adjective

Informal excellent, skilful, or stylish: a class act

Verb

to place in a class [Latin classis class, rank]

class (kl

A taxonomic category of organisms ranking above an order and below a phylum or division. In modern taxonomic schemes, the names of classes end in -phyceae for the various groups of algae, -mycetes for fungi, and -opsida for plants (as in Liliopsida, the class of plants also termed monocotyledons). The names of classes belonging to phyla of the animal kingdom, however, are formed in various ways, as Osteichthyes the bony fishes, Aves, the birds, and Mammalia, the mammals, all of which are classes belonging to the subphylum Vertebrata (the vertebrates) in the phylum Chordata. See Table at taxonomy.

Class a rank or position of society; a division into units in a school or college; in the United States, those students who enter college the same year; a number of persons with similar qualities or skills grouped together; a range of items or things graded according to quality.

ThesaurusLegend: Synonyms Related Words Antonyms

Noun	1.	class - a collection of things sharing a common attribute; "there are two classes of detergents" category, family grammatical category, syntactic category - (grammar) a category of words having the same grammatical properties substitution class, paradigm - the class of all items that can be substituted into the same position (or slot) in a grammatical sentence (are in paradigmatic relation with one another) aggregation, collection, accumulation, assemblage - several things grouped together or considered as a whole brass family - (music) the family of brass instruments violin family - (music) the family of bowed stringed instruments woodwind family - (music) the family of woodwind instruments stamp - a type or class; "more men of his stamp are needed" sex - either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided; "the war between the sexes" declension - a class of nouns or pronouns or adjectives in Indo-European languages having the same (or very similar) inflectional forms; "the first declension in Latin" conjugation - a class of verbs having the same inflectional forms denomination - a class of one kind of unit in a system of numbers or measures or weights or money; "he flashed a fistful of bills of large denominations" histocompatibility complex - a family of fifty or more genes on the sixth human chromosome that code for proteins on the surfaces of cells and that play a role in the immune response superphylum - (biology) a taxonomic group ranking between a phylum and below a class or subclass
	2.	class - a body of students who are taught together; "early morning classes are always sleepy" grade, course, form assemblage, gathering - a group of persons together in one place master class - a class (especially in music) given to talented students by an expert discussion section, section - a small class of students who are part of a larger course but are taught separately; "a graduate student taught sections for the professor's lecture course"
	3.	class - people having the same social, economic, or educational status; "the working class"; "an emerging professional class" social class, socio-economic class, stratum people - (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience" world, domain - people in general; especially a distinctive group of people with some shared interest; "the Western world" society - an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization age class - people in the same age range agriculture - the class of people engaged in growing food sodality, brotherhood, fraternity - people engaged in a particular occupation; "the medical fraternity" estate of the realm, the three estates, estate - a major social class or order of persons regarded collectively as part of the body politic of the country (especially in the United Kingdom) and formerly possessing distinct political rights labor, labour, proletariat, working class - a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages; "there is a shortage of skilled labor in this field" lower class, underclass - the social class lowest in the social hierarchy bourgeoisie, middle class - the social class between the lower and upper classes booboisie - class consisting of all those who are considered boobs commonality, commonalty, commons - a class composed of persons lacking clerical or noble rank peasantry - the class of peasants demimonde - a class of woman not considered respectable because of indiscreet or promiscuous behavior underworld - the criminal class yeomanry - class of small freeholders who cultivated their own land caste - a social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth caste - (Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity class structure - the organization of classes within a society upper class, upper crust - the class occupying the highest position in the social hierarchy ninja - a class of 14th century Japanese who were trained in martial arts and were hired for espionage and assassinations firing line - the most advanced and responsible group in an activity; "the firing line is where the action is" immigrant class - recent immigrants who are lumped together as a class by their low socioeconomic status in spite of different cultural backgrounds center - politically moderate persons; centrists old school - a class of people favoring traditional ideas market - the customers for a particular product or service; "before they publish any book they try to determine the size of the market for it" craft, trade - people who perform a particular kind of skilled work; "he represented the craft of brewers"; "as they say in the trade" fair sex, womanhood, woman - women as a class; "it's an insult to American womanhood"; "woman is the glory of creation"; "the fair sex gathered on the veranda"
	4.	class - education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings; "he took a course in basket weaving"; "flirting is not unknown in college classes" course, course of instruction, course of study didactics, education, educational activity, instruction, pedagogy, teaching - the activities of educating or instructing; activities that impart knowledge or skill; "he received no formal education"; "our instruction was carefully programmed"; "good classroom teaching is seldom rewarded" coursework - work assigned to and done by a student during a course of study; usually it is evaluated as part of the student's grade in the course adult education - a course (via lectures or correspondence) for adults who are not otherwise engaged in formal study art class - a class in which you learn to draw or paint childbirth-preparation class - a course that teaches pregnant women to use breathing and concentration and exercise techniques to use during labor lesson - a unit of instruction; "he took driving lessons" correspondence course - a course offered (by mail) by a correspondence school course of lectures - a series of lectures dealing with a subject directed study - a course of study that is supervised and controlled by a specialist in the subject; "he registered for directed study"; "he got credit for directed study"; "he did directed study" elective, elective course - a course that the student can select from among alternatives extension course - a course offered as part of an extension service home study - a course of study carried out at home rather than in a classroom industrial arts - a course in the methods of using tools and machinery as taught in secondary schools and technical schools orientation course, orientation - a course introducing a new situation or environment propaedeutic, propaedeutics - a course that provides an introduction to an art or science (or to more advanced study generally) refresher course, refresher - a course that reviews and updates a topic for those who have not kept abreast of developments required course - a course that all students are required to take seminar - a course offered for a small group of advanced students shop class, shop - a course of instruction in a trade (as carpentry or electricity); "I built a birdhouse in shop" workshop - a brief intensive course for a small group; emphasizes problem solving lecturing, lecture - teaching by giving a discourse on some subject (typically to a class) class period, course session, recitation - a regularly scheduled session as part of a course of study
	5.	class - a league ranked by quality; "he played baseball in class D for two years"; "Princeton is in the NCAA Division 1-AA" division league, conference - an association of sports teams that organizes matches for its members
	6.	class - a body of students who graduate together; "the class of '97"; "she was in my year at Hoehandle High" year assemblage, gathering - a group of persons together in one place graduating class - the body of students who graduate together this year senior class - final grade or class in high school or college junior class - penultimate class in high school or college sophomore class - the second class in a four-year college or high school freshman class - the first class in college or high school
	7.	class - (biology) a taxonomic group containing one or more orders class Schizomycetes, Schizomycetes - a former classification class Cyanobacteria, class Cyanophyceae, Cyanophyceae - photosynthetic bacteria found in fresh and salt water, having chlorophyll a and phycobilins; once thought to be algae: blue-green algae class Sarcodina, Sarcodina - characterized by the formation of pseudopods for locomotion and taking food: Actinopoda; Rhizopoda Actinopoda, subclass Actinopoda - heliozoans; radiolarians Rhizopoda, subclass Rhizopoda - creeping protozoans: amoebas and foraminifers Ciliata, Ciliophora, class Ciliata, class Ciliophora - class of protozoa having cilia or hairlike appendages on part or all of the surface during some part of the life cycle Infusoria, subclass Infusoria - in some recent classifications, coextensive with the Ciliata: minute organisms found in decomposing infusions of organic matter Chrysophyceae, class Chrysophyceae, class Heterokontae, Heterokontae - all the yellow-green algae having flagella of unequal length class Xanthophyceae, Xanthophyceae - yellow-green algae Bacillariophyceae, class Bacillariophyceae, class Diatomophyceae, Diatomophyceae - marine and freshwater eukaryotic algae: diatoms class Phaeophyceae, Phaeophyceae - brown algae; mostly marine and littoral eukaryotic algae class Cyclosporeae, Cyclosporeae - in more recent classifications superseded by the order Fucales class Euglenophyceae, Euglenophyceae - coextensive with the division Euglenophyta Chlorophyceae, class Chlorophyceae - algae distinguished chiefly by having flagella and a clear green color, their chlorophyll being masked little if at all by other pigments class Ulvophyceae, Ulvophyceae - alternative name for the class Chlorophyceae in some classifications Charophyceae, class Charophyceae - in some classifications: contains only the order Charales class Rhodophyceae, Rhodophyceae - coextensive with the Rhodophyta: red algae class Flagellata, class Mastigophora, Flagellata, Mastigophora - protozoa having flagella subclass Zoomastigina, Zoomastigina - in some classifications considered a phylum of the kingdom Protista; holozoic or saprozoic flagellates Phytomastigina, subclass Phytomastigina - plantlike flagellates containing chlorophyll; often considered unicellular algae class Cryptophyceae, Cryptophyceae - motile usually brownish-green protozoa-like algae class Sporozoa, Sporozoa - strictly parasitic protozoans that are usually immobile; includes plasmodia and coccidia and piroplasms and malaria parasites subclass Telosporidia, Telosporidia - parasitic sporozoans that form spores containing one or more infective sporozoites Acnidosporidia, subclass Acnidosporidia - a subclass of Sporozoa Cnidosporidia, subclass Cnidosporidia - single-host parasites of lower vertebrates and invertebrates Ascidiaceae, class Ascidiaceae - sometimes classified as an order: sea squirts class Thaliacea, Thaliacea - small class of free-swimming tunicates; sometimes classified as an order class Larvacea, Larvacea - small free-swimming tunicates; sometimes classified as an order Agnatha, superclass Agnatha - superclass of eel-shaped chordates lacking jaws and pelvic fins: lampreys; hagfishes; some extinct forms Gnathostomata, superclass Gnathostomata - comprising all vertebrates with upper and lower jaws class Placodermi, Placodermi - extinct group of bony-plated fishes with primitive jaws Chondrichthyes, class Chondrichthyes - cartilaginous fishes Holocephali, subclass Holocephali - chimaeras and extinct forms
	8.	class - elegance in dress or behavior; "she has a lot of class" elegance - a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste; "she conveys an aura of elegance and gentility" colloquialism - a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech
Verb	1.	class - arrange or order by classes or categories; "How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?" classify, sort out, assort, sort, separate unitise, unitize - separate or classify into units; "The hospital was unitized for efficiency" catalogue, catalog - make an itemized list or catalog of; classify; "He is cataloguing his photographic negatives" isolate - separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them refer - think of, regard, or classify under a subsuming principle or with a general group or in relation to another; "This plant can be referred to a known species" reclassify - classify anew, change the previous classification; "The zoologists had to reclassify the mollusks after they found new species" size - sort according to size dichotomise, dichotomize - divide into two opposing groups or kinds stereotype, pigeonhole, stamp - treat or classify according to a mental stereotype; "I was stereotyped as a lazy Southern European" group - arrange into a group or groups; "Can you group these shapes together?" categorise, categorize - place into or assign to a category; "Children learn early on to categorize" grade - determine the grade of or assign a grade to number, count - put into a group; "The academy counts several Nobel Prize winners among its members"