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caste Definition

caste (kast, käst)

noun

  1. any of the distinct, hereditary Hindu social classes, each traditionally, but no longer officially, excluded from social dealings with the others
  2. any exclusive and restrictive social or occupational class or group
  3. rigid class distinction based on birth, wealth, etc., operating as a social system or principle
  4. any of the differentiated types of individuals in a colony of social insects

Etymology: Fr < Port casta, breed, race, caste < L castus, pure, chaste, orig., cut off, separated, pp. of carere, to be cut off from < IE base *es-, to cut > MIr cess, spear

caste Idioms

lose caste

to lose social status or position

caste Synonyms

caste

n.

  1. Class

    station, cultural level, social stratum; see class 2, rank 3.

  2. Status

    standing, position, station; see degree 2, rank 2.

caste Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • schedule: The British referred to them as 'the scheduled castes ' .
  • lose: Davenport looks to be running into form and lost no caste in defeat behind Trafalgar Square in the soft at Goodwood last time.

Adjective modifier

  • priestly: Their priestly caste were the best placed to use these archives to write a sacred history with a political purpose in mind.
  • bureaucratic: He expressed the interests of this bureaucratic caste ever more clearly.
  • privileged: The other gave birth to a new privileged caste.
  • scheduled: All states are now required to have 33 % representation of women in local governance with scheduled castes and tribes having proportionate representation.
  • upper: In India this is still largely upper caste in its composition.
  • dominant: In the presence of a perceived crisis, the dominant castes see themselves as the representatives of Hinduism.

Modifies a noun

  • Hindu: Lower caste Hindus have formed their own political group, which has now taken control of state governments.
  • hierarchy: But in practice a local caste hierarchy may correspond only very loosely with the ideal.
  • discrimination: The Indian government banned caste discrimination at independence from Britain in 1947.
  • system: Hinduism has a rigid caste system which often results in pressure on the young to ensure they don't marry into the wrong caste.
  • status: Caste status is determined not by clothes but by relationship to the party.
  • society: A variant of caste society was created to support the army.

Noun used with modifier

  • ruling: The Turk, being of the ruling caste, must have the last word.
  • warrior: On the other, the younger sons of the warrior caste sought pay, booty and estates to maintain themselves.
  • officer: The Church of England demands to have its say; threats of mutiny come from the officer caste.
  • worker: Worker caste polymorphism has a genetic basis in a leaf-cutting ant.

Preposition: in

  • defeat: Davenport looks to be running into form and lost no caste in defeat behind Trafalgar Square in the soft at Goodwood last time.

Preposition: of

  • priest: On the fringes of the empire, the caste of priests had to devise new ways of earning a crust.
caste Quotes

On a voulu, a'   tort, faire de la bourgeoisie une classe. La bourgeoisie est tout simplement la portion contente¤  e du peuple. Le bourgeois, c'est l'homme qui a maintenant le temps de s'asseoir.Une chaise n'est pas une caste. Humboldt Wrongly, one wanted to make the bourgeoisie a class. The bourgeoisie is simply a contented section of the public. A bourgeois is a man who now has the time to sit down. A chair is not a caste.

—Hugo,Victor Marie

   It is a great war for the emancipation of Europe from the thralldom of a military caste which has thrown its shadows upon two generations of men, and is now plunging theworld intoawelterof bloodshedand death.

—Lloyd George (of Dwyfor), David, 1st Earl

Browse dictionary entries near caste

  1. castaway
  2. castanets
  3. Castalia
  4. cast steel
  5. cast out
  6. cast off
  7. cast iron
  8. cast down
  9. cast away
  10. cast aside
  1. Castellón
  2. castellan
  3. castellany
  4. castellated
  5. caster
  6. castigate
  7. Castiglione
  8. Castile
  9. Castile soap
  10. Castilian