societal

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UK[səˈsaɪ.ɪ.tɫ̩]Canada, US[səˈsaɪ.ə.tɫ̩]Canada, US[səˈsaɪ.ə.ɾɫ̩]Australia, New Zealand[səˈsɑe.ə.tɫ̩]

adjective

Of or pertaining to society or social groups, or to their activities, customs, etc.

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Less commonScrabble 10

Meanings

adjectivesocietal (comparative more societal, superlative most societal)

comparative more societal · superlative most societal

  1. Of or pertaining to society or social groups, or to their activities, customs, etc.

    While H5N1 flu is obviously lethal, some milder flus pose a greater societal threat, Professor Mathews says.

    2010, Malcolm Knox, The Monthly, April 2010, Issue 55, The Monthly Ptd Ltd, page 46
    2 more examples

    But his real legacy, which has touched each of us more than we will likely ever know, centers around a rather simple notion of spontaneous order of societal development.

    1992 May 31, David Rehr, “Hayek's Legacy of the Spontaneous Order”, in Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2025

    "It would also bring huge societal and economic benefits to all the regions of Britain, not just to London - helping the Government with its 'levelling up' agenda."

    2023 July 26, Ben Jones, “EU open access growth offers pointers for UK hopefuls”, in RAIL, number 988, page 33

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiverelating to human society and its members

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Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*sekʷ-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*sokʷéh₂
  3. Proto-Indo-European*sokʷh₂ṓy
  4. Proto-Indo-European*sokʷyós
  5. Proto-Italic*sokjos
  6. Latinsokios
  7. Latinsocius
  8. Latinsocietā
  9. Old Frenchsocieté
  10. Middle Frenchsocieté
  11. Englishsociety
  12. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  13. Proto-Indo-European*h₂élisder.?
  14. Englishsocietal

From society + -al.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Czech celospolečenský
  • celospolečenskýsocietal
Danish samfundsmæssig
  • samfundsmæssigsocietal
Dutch maatschappelijk
  • maatschappelijksocietal
Estonian ühiskondlik
  • ühiskondliksocietal
Finnish yhteiskunnallinen
  • yhteiskunnallinensocietal
French sociétal
  • sociétalsocietal
German gesellschaftlich
  • gesellschaftlichsocietal
Irish sochaíoch
  • sochaíochsocietal
Italian societario
  • societariosocietal
Lithuanian visuomeninis
  • visuomeninissocietal
Norwegian Bokmål samfunnsmessig
  • samfunnsmessigsocietal
Polish społeczny
  • społecznysocietal
Spanish societal
  • societalsocietal
Swedish samhällelig
  • samhälleligsocietal
Tagalog ulnungin
  • ulnunginsocietal
Turkish toplumsal
  • toplumsalsocietal

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

societal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/societal

MLA

“societal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/societal. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “societal,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/societal.

Source: societal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.