GROUP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does group mean? 

• GROUP (noun)
  The noun GROUP has 3 senses:

1. any number of entities (members) considered as a unit

2. (chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule

3. a set that is closed, associative, has an identity element and every element has an inverse

  Familiarity information: GROUP used as a noun is uncommon.

• GROUP (verb)
  The verb GROUP has 2 senses:

1. arrange into a group or groups

2. form a group or group together

  Familiarity information: GROUP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GROUP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any number of entities (members) considered as a unit

Classified under:

Nouns with no superordinates

Synonyms:

group; grouping

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

abstract entity; abstraction (a general concept formed by extracting common features from specific examples)

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

arrangement (an orderly grouping (of things or persons) considered as a unit; the result of arranging)

human beings; human race; humanity; humankind; humans; man; mankind; world (all of the living human inhabitants of the earth)

halogen (any of five related nonmetallic elements (fluorine or chlorine or bromine or iodine or astatine) that are all monovalent and readily form negative ions)

lanthanide; lanthanoid; lanthanon; rare-earth element; rare earth (any element of the lanthanide series (atomic numbers 57 through 71))

actinide; actinoid; actinon (any of a series of radioactive elements with atomic numbers 89 through 103)

series (a group of postage stamps having a common theme or a group of coins or currency selected as a group for study or collection)

scheme; system (a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole)

circuit ((law) a judicial division of a state or the United States (so-called because originally judges traveled and held court in different locations); one of the twelve groups of states in the United States that is covered by a particular circuit court of appeals)

varna ((Hinduism) the name for the original social division of Vedic people into four groups (which are subdivided into thousands of jatis))

hoi polloi; mass; masses; multitude; people; the great unwashed (the common people generally)

population (a group of organisms of the same species inhabiting a given area)

citizenry; people (the body of citizens of a state or country)

sainthood (saints collectively)

subgroup (a distinct and often subordinate group within a group)

association ((ecology) a group of organisms (plants and animals) that live together in a certain geographical region and constitute a community with a few dominant species)

race (people who are believed to belong to the same genetic stock)

ethnic group; ethnos (people of the same race or nationality who share a distinctive culture)

electron shell (a grouping of electrons surrounding the nucleus of an atom)

edition (all of the identical copies of something offered to the public at the same time)

accumulation; aggregation; assemblage; collection (several things grouped together or considered as a whole)

social group (people sharing some social relation)

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

biotic community; community ((ecology) a group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other)

biological group (a group of plants or animals)

kingdom (a basic group of natural objects)

straggle (a wandering or disorderly grouping (of things or persons))

cloud; swarm (a group of many things in the air or on the ground)

Instance hyponyms:

Great Lakes (a group of five large, interconnected lakes in central North America)

Derivation:

group (arrange into a group or groups)

group (form a group or group together)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(chemistry) two or more atoms bound together as a single unit and forming part of a molecule

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

chemical group; group; radical

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

building block; unit (a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

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

vinyl; vinyl group; vinyl radical (a univalent chemical radical derived from ethylene)

uranyl; uranyl group; uranyl radical (the bivalent radical UO2 which forms salts with acids)

nitrite (the radical -NO2 or any compound containing it (such as a salt or ester of nitrous acid))

alkyl; alkyl group; alkyl radical (any of a series of univalent groups of the general formula CnH2n+1 derived from aliphatic hydrocarbons)

nitro group (the group -NO3)

butyl (a hydrocarbon radical (C4H9))

propyl; propyl group; propyl radical (the monovalent organic group C3H7- obtained from propane)

methylene; methylene group; methylene radical (the bivalent radical CH2 derived from methane)

ketone group (a group having the characteristic properties of ketones)

hydroxyl; hydroxyl group; hydroxyl radical (the monovalent group -OH in such compounds as bases and some acids and alcohols)

hydrazo group; hydrazo radical (the bivalent group -HNNH- derived from hydrazine)

glyceryl (a trivalent radical derived from glycerol by removing the three hydroxyl radicals)

cyanide group; cyanide radical; cyano group; cyano radical (the monovalent group -CN in a chemical compound)

chromophore (the chemical group that gives color to a molecule)

carbonyl group (the bivalent radical CO)

acyl; acyl group (any group or radical of the form RCO- where R is an organic group)

alcohol group; alcohol radical (the chemical group -OH)

aldehyde group; aldehyde radical (the chemical group -CHO)

allyl; allyl group; allyl radical (the univalent unsaturated organic radical C3H5; derived from propylene)

amino; amino group (the radical -NH2)

amyl (a hydrocarbon radical that occurs in many organic compounds)

azido group; azido radical (the univalent group N3- derived from hydrazoic acid)

azo group; azo radical (the bivalent group -N=N- united to two hydrocarbon groups)

benzyl; benzyl group; benzyl radical (the univalent radical derived from toluene)

benzoyl group; benzoyl radical (the univalent radical derived from benzoic acid)

arsenic group; cacodyl; cacodyl group; cacodyl radical (the univalent group derived from arsine)

carboxyl; carboxyl group (the univalent radical -COOH; present in and characteristic of organic acids)

Holonyms ("group" is a part of...):

molecule ((physics and chemistry) the simplest structural unit of an element or compound)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A set that is closed, associative, has an identity element and every element has an inverse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

group; mathematical group

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

set ((mathematics) an abstract collection of numbers or symbols)

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

Abelian group; commutative group (a group that satisfies the commutative law)

subgroup ((mathematics) a subset (that is not empty) of a mathematical group)

• GROUP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they group    ... he / she / it groups   
Past simple: grouped   
Past participle: grouped   
-ing form: grouping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arrange into a group or groups

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Context example:

Can you group these shapes together?

Hypernyms (to "group" is one way to...):

assort; class; classify; separate; sort; sort out (arrange or order by classes or categories)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "group"):

regroup (reorganize into new groups)

bracket (classify or group)

chunk; collocate; lump (group or chunk together in a certain order or place side by side)

batch (batch together; assemble or process as a batch)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

group (any number of entities (members) considered as a unit)

grouping (the activity of putting things together in groups)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form a group or group together

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

aggroup; group

Hypernyms (to "group" is one way to...):

assemble; foregather; forgather; gather; meet (collect in one place)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "group"):

team; team up (form a team)

embed (attach to, as a journalist to a military unit when reporting on a war)

gang; gang up (act as an organized group)

pool (join or form a pool of people)

brigade (form or unite into a brigade)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

The crowds group in the streets

Derivation:

group (any number of entities (members) considered as a unit)

grouping (the activity of putting things together in groups)

 Context examples 

Premenstrual syndrome, or PMS, is a group of symptoms that start before the period.

(Menstruation, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

On the farther side of it, under the shadow of a mighty oak, there stood a singular group of three people.

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

A group of muscles causing movement of the leg towards the midline of the body.

(Adductor Group of the Leg, NCI Thesaurus)

A morphologic finding that refers to the transformation or replacement of a group of non-mesenchymal cells into osseous, cartilagenous, or lipomatous cells.

(Mesenchymal Metaplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

There were little groups, she reasoned, like Switzerland, and there were big groups like the United States.

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

As we moved across it in the direction of the window, Holmes fell back until he and I were the last of the group.

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

Megace belongs to the group of hormones called progestins.

(Megestrol acetate, NCI Dictionary)

Sometimes when people are joined together in a group, they are susceptible to groupthink and begin to follow like little robots rather than think for themselves.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The sun was almost down on the mountain tops, and the shadows of the whole group fell long upon the snow.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A group of rare inherited disorders characterized by a deficiency of enzymes that are involved in metabolic pathways that affect muscles.

(Metabolic Myopathy, NCI Thesaurus)