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societal

societal

74 4.4
Relating to human society and how people live and work together
  • adjective
  • /səˈsaɪətəl/
: social
  • How can we use our research in the service of societal change as well as educational reform?
  • societal norms
  • societal change
  • societal expectations

So I am very curious to see what societal impact that will have.

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Examples

  • And then we got to think about larger, broader societal issues as well.

  • I feel like I get the societal pressure thing.

  • And so this societal change is doing the same thing.

  • The problem is societal and we're not talking about that.

  • And films also shape that societal understanding.

  • This creates massive, massive societal problems in our country.

  • So I am very curious to see what societal impact that will have.

  • Rights are complex concepts founded on moral, policy, societal, and cultural ideas.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Child abuse and neglect reporting laws have focused societal attention on a serious problem.

    Academic text (1990)
  • The recent protests highlighted many important societal issues that need to be addressed.

Synonyms

social
vssocietal
∞ 1.3

Relating to how people or animals live and behave in groups

relates specifically to human society, its organization and members

Compounds

A situation where what others expect limits a person's choices

How Social

communal
41 3.9
societal
74 4.4
institutional
98 4.5
local
∞ 1.0
individual
847 3.0
private
∞ 2.2

Surface Forms

societal positive

Morphology

societal = society (transparent) = society + al

The adjective is formed regularly from 'society' with the suffix '-al', and its meaning is directly related to society.

Etymology

Societal comes from society, which comes from the Latin word socius meaning 'companion' or 'friend'. Think of a society as a group of companions who join together, and that's why societal describes things about how people live and organize together.