classes

Noun

class (countable and uncountable, plural classes)

1. (countable) A group, collection, category or set sharing characteristics or attributes.
   • The new Ford Fiesta is set to be best in the 'small family' class.
2. (countable) A social grouping, based on job, wealth, etc. In Britain, society is commonly split into three main classes: upper class, middle class and working class.
   • Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […]. Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […] But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political...2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21
3. (uncountable) The division of society into classes.
   • Jane Austen's works deal with class in 18th-century England.
4. (uncountable) Admirable behavior; elegance.
   • Apologizing for losing your temper, even though you were badly provoked, showed real class.

   Antonyms:

   vulgarity

5. A group of students in a regularly scheduled meeting with a teacher.
   • The class was noisy, but the teacher was able to get their attention with a story.
6. A series of lessons covering a single subject.
   • I took the cooking class for enjoyment, but I also learned a lot.

See all 21 meanings of class

Noun

classis (plural classes)

1. (obsolete) A class or order; sort; type; kind.
   • […]declared his own opinion of that classis of men.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
2. An ecclesiastical body or judicatory in certain churches, such as the Dutch Reformed Church. It is intermediate between the consistory and the synod, and corresponds to the presbytery in the Presbyterian church.
   • At Utrecht and Breda there was strong pressure from the Dutch Reformed Church to exclude from employment British preachers who refused to take membership in the classis.1982, Keith L. Sprunger, Dutch Puritanism
3. A category in the classification of organisms, ranking below divisio and above ordo.

   Synonyms:

   class