'Caste' definitions:
Definition of 'caste'
From: WordNet
noun
Social status or position conferred by a system based on class; "lose caste by doing work beneath one's station"
noun
(Hinduism) a hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity
noun
A social class separated from others by distinctions of hereditary rank or profession or wealth
noun
In some social insects (such as ants) a physically distinct individual or group of individuals specialized to perform certain functions in the colony
Definition of 'Caste'
From: GCIDE
- Caste \Caste\, n. [Pg. casta race, lineage, fr. L. castus pure, chaste: cf. F. caste, of same origin.]
- 1. One of the hereditary classes into which the Hindu are divided according to the laws of Brahmanism. [1913 Webster]
- Note: The members of the same caste are theoretically of equal rank, and same profession or occupation, and may not eat or intermarry with those not of their own caste. The original are four, viz., the Brahmans, or sacerdotal order; the Kshatriyas, or soldiers and rulers; the Vaisyas, or husbandmen and merchants; and the Sudras, or laborers and mechanics. Men of no caste are Pariahs, outcasts. Numerous mixed classes, or castes, have sprung up in the progress of time. [1913 Webster]
- 2. A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly hold intercourse among themselves. [1913 Webster]
- The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- To lose caste, to be degraded from the caste to which one has belonged; to lose social position or consideration. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'caste'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- ashram,
- blood,
- body,
- bracket,
- branch,
- category,
- clan,
- class,
- colony,
- commonwealth,
- commune,
- community,
- condition,
- division,
- echelon,
- economic class,
- endogamous group,
- estate,
- extended family,
- family,
- footing,
- gens,
- grade,
- group,
- grouping,
- head,
- heading,
- hierarchy,
- kin,
- kinship group,
- label,
- level,
- moiety,
- nuclear family,
- order,
- phratria,
- phratry,
- phyle,
- pigeonhole,
- place,
- position,
- power structure,
- precedence,
- predicament,
- race,
- rank,
- rate,
- rating,
- rubric,
- section,
- sept,
- set,
- settlement,
- social class,
- society,
- sphere,
- stage,
- standing,
- station,
- status,
- strain,
- stratum,
- subcaste,
- subdivision,
- subgroup,
- suborder,
- title,
- totem
Words containing 'Caste'
- Cast,
- Casting,
- To cast a,
- To cast by,
- To cast down,
- To cast off,
- To cast out,
- To cast up,
- cast about,
- cast down,
- cast off,
- cast on,
- cast out,
- cast up,
- A cast of the eye,
- Cast iron,
- Cast steel,
- Cast-off,
- Casting line,
- Casting net,
- Casting of draperies,
- Casting voice,
- Casting vote,
- Casting weight,
- Mitis casting,
- Plaster cast,
- Renal cast,
- Renal casts,
- Stone's cast,
- The die is cast,
- The last cast,
- To cast a horoscope,
- To cast a shoe,
- To cast anchor,
- To cast aside,
- To cast away,
- To cast forth,
- To cast in the teeth,
- To cast lots,
- To cast off copy,
- To cast the lead,
- To cast the water,
- To lose caste,
- bait casting,
- cast a spell,
- cast anchor,
- cast around,
- cast aside,
- cast away,
- cast forth,
- cast of characters,
- cast scrap,
- caste system,
- casting lots,
- fly casting,
- leaf cast,
- needle cast,
- sand cast,
- surf casting,
- Cast-iron,
- Clich'e casting,
- Half-caste,
- Malleable iron castings,
- To cast in one's lot with,
- To cast in one's teeth,
- To cast one's nativity,
- To cast one's self on,
- alloy cast iron,
- die-cast,
- To cast one's colt's tooth,
- To cast one's self upon,
- cast-iron plant,
- soft-cast steel,
- wrought-iron casting