a number of people or things grouped together because of certain likenesses or common traits; kind; sort; category
a group of people considered as a unit according to economic, occupational, or social status; esp., a social rank or caste: the working class, the middle class
high social rank or caste
the division of society into ranks or castes
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a group of students taught together according to standing, subject, etc.
a meeting of such a group
a group of students graduating together: the class of 1988
any group of persons that share a given year, as those elected to public office or selected for some honor
a division or grouping according to grade or quality: as orators, the President and the Senator were not in the same class
conscripted troops, or men liable to conscription, all of whom were born in the same year: to call up the class of 1947
Biol. a major category in the classification of animals, plants, etc., ranking above an order and below a division or phylum: it can include one order or many similar orders: the Latinized class names are capitalized but not italicized (Ex.: Mammalia, mammals)
Gram. in some languages, the formal classification by which nouns are grouped according to animateness, sex, shape, and other criteria