community

a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

a locality inhabited by such a group.

a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists: the community of scholars;

the business community;

the community of scholars;

diversity within a college community;

London's Jewish and Muslim communities.

a group of associated nations sharing common interests or a common heritage:

the community of Western Europe.

Ecclesiastical. a group of men or women leading a common life according to a rule.

Ecology. an assemblage of interacting populations occupying a given area.

joint possession, enjoyment, liability, etc.:

community of property.

similarity; agreement; identity:

community of interests.

Synonyms: likeness, correspondence

the community, the public; society:

the needs of the community

com·muni·tal adjective

procom·munity adjective

Community, hamlet, village, town, city are terms for groups of people living in somewhat close association, and usually under common rules. Community is a general term, and town is often loosely  

.applied. A commonly accepted set of connotations envisages hamlet as a small group, village as a somewhat larger one, town still larger, and city as very large. Size is, however, not the true basis of differentiation, but properly sets off only hamlet. Incorporation, or the absence of it, and the type of government determine the classification of the others.

Discover 

What is a community? A community is a social group whose members have something in common, such as a shared government, geographic location, culture, or heritage.

Community can also refer to the physical location where such a group lives. It can refer to a town, city, village, or other area with a formal government whose residents share a nationality or culture, as in A group of town citizens decided to clean up the litter in their community. 

Community can also refer to the people who live in this area, as in Filipe was able to raise money for the city’s homeless shelter with help from the community. 

More generally, community can refer to a group that shares some trait or quality that separates it from the wider population as in Tracy was excited to find that the Muslim community in her city often held free talks on being a Muslim American. 

Example: Ria entered politics to help improve the lives of the people in her community. 

Where does community come from?

The first records of the word community comes from around 1325. It comes from the Latin commūnitās, meaning “joint possession or use.” A community has something in common, such as a geographic location or a shared culture.

In terms of a specific location, community is a more general term than words like burrough, village, or city. When you refer to the community you live in, you could mean something as small as your neighborhood or as large as a metropolitan area.

The sense of community that refers to a group of people with shared traits or qualities is frequently used when people talk about demographics. You have probably heard of polls or studies of “the Hispanic community” or “the Christian community,” for example. You’ll find this usage in academics, politics, business, and similar fields.