FOLK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does folk mean? 

• FOLK (noun)
  The noun FOLK has 4 senses:

1. people in general (often used in the plural)

2. a social division of (usually preliterate) people

3. people descended from a common ancestor

4. the traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community

  Familiarity information: FOLK used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FOLK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

People in general (often used in the plural)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

common people; folk; folks

Context example:

the common people determine the group character and preserve its customs from one generation to the next

Hypernyms ("folk" is a kind of...):

people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)

Meronyms (members of "folk"):

pleb; plebeian (one of the common people)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "folk"):

country people; countryfolk (people raised in or living in a rural environment; rustics)

gentlefolk (people of good family and breeding and high social status)

grass roots (the common people at a local level (as distinguished from the centers of political activity))

home folk (folks from your own home town)

rabble; ragtag; ragtag and bobtail; riffraff (disparaging terms for the common people)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A social division of (usually preliterate) people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

folk; tribe

Hypernyms ("folk" is a kind of...):

social group (people sharing some social relation)

Meronyms (members of "folk"):

moiety (one of two basic subdivisions of a tribe)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "folk"):

phyle (a tribe of ancient Athenians)

Sense 3

Meaning:

People descended from a common ancestor

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

family; family line; folk; kinfolk; kinsfolk; phratry; sept

Context example:

his family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower

Hypernyms ("folk" is a kind of...):

ancestry; blood; blood line; bloodline; descent; line; line of descent; lineage; origin; parentage; pedigree; stemma; stock (the descendants of one individual)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "folk"):

people (members of a family line)

homefolk (the people of your home locality (especially your own family))

house (aristocratic family line)

dynasty (a sequence of powerful leaders in the same family)

gens; name (family based on male descent)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The traditional and typically anonymous music that is an expression of the life of people in a community

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

ethnic music; folk; folk music

Hypernyms ("folk" is a kind of...):

popular music; popular music genre (any genre of music having wide appeal (but usually only for a short time))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "folk"):

folk ballad; folk song; folksong (a song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture)

schottische (music performed for dancing the schottische)

C and W; country and western; country music (a simple style of folk music heard mostly in the southern United States; usually played on stringed instruments)

gospel; gospel singing (folk music consisting of a genre of a cappella music originating with Black slaves in the United States and featuring call and response; influential on the development of other genres of popular music (especially soul))

square-dance music (music performed for square dancing)

 Context examples 

Better that than stealing the deer that thou art placed to guard, like some folk I know.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In that place there be many Russian folk, and their rule is harsh.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

We brought her round here, called in Dr. Horsom, of 13, Firbank Villas—mind you take the address, Mr. Holmes—and had her carefully tended, as Christian folk should.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That’s the list of the folk from whom I buy.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He went on: "And you consate that all these steans be aboon folk that be happed here, snod an' snog?" I assented again.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

There are no effective hangover remedies – instead, societies appear to rely on folk remedies (such as ‘hair of the dog’) and old folk sayings.

(Wine before beer, or beer before wine? Either way, you’ll be hungover, University of Cambridge)

Extracts of this oleoresin have been used as a folk medicine for centuries in Ayurdevic medicine in India.

(Boswellia serrata, NCI Thesaurus)

“Some folks might say there was madness in his method,” muttered the Inspector.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But they were best (and universally) known for the collection of over two hundred folk tales they made from oral sources and published in two volumes of Nursery and Household Tales in 1812 and 1814.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The staid and sober Oakland folk who sat upon the car scarcely noted the young fellow and the girl who ran for it and found a seat in front on the outside.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)