Class.
Synonyms:
| association, | circle, | clique, | company, | grade, | rank, |
| caste, | clan, | club, | coterie, | order, | set. |
A class is a number or body of persons or objects having common pursuits, purposes, attributes, or characteristics. A caste is hereditary; a class may be independent of lineage or descent; membership in a caste is supposed to be for life; membership in a class may be very transient; a religious and ceremonial sacredness attaches to the caste, as not to the class. The rich and the poor form separate classes; yet individuals are constantly passing from each to the other; the classes in a college remain the same, but their membership changes every year. We speak of rank among hereditary nobility or military officers; of various orders of the priesthood; by accommodation, we may refer in a general way to the higher ranks, the lower orders of any society. Grade implies some regular scale of valuation, and some inherent qualities for which a person or thing is placed higher or lower in the scale; as, the coarser and finer grades of wool; a man of an inferior grade. A coterie is a small company of persons of similar tastes, who meet frequently in an informal way, rather for social enjoyment than for any serious purpose. Clique has always an unfavorable meaning. A clique is always fractional, implying some greater gathering of which it is a part; the association breaks up into cliques. Persons unite in a coterie through simple liking for one another; they withdraw into a clique largely through aversion to outsiders. A set, while exclusive, is more extensive than a clique, and chiefly of persons who are united by common social station, etc. Circle is similar in meaning to set, but of wider application; we speak of scientific and religious as well as of social circles.
Prepositions:
A class of merchants; the senior class at (sometimes of) Harvard; the classes in college.