VocabauraVOCABAURA

caste

noun

Simple meaning

A hereditary social class among Hindus.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kast
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkæst

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. hinduism

    A hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity

  2. Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies or similar found historically in other cultures.

  3. A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.

  4. In some social insects (such as ants) a physically distinct individual or group of individuals specialized to perform certain functions in the colony

  5. zoology

    A class of polymorphous eusocial insects of a particular size and function within a colony.

  6. uncountable

    The division of society into castes; the caste system.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C1 · Advanced (estimated)
Frequency
Uncommon
Formality
Technical

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A hereditary social class among Hindus; stratified according to ritual purity

Used this way, caste is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It suits considered writing and prepared speech.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Formal and ceremonial
Usage feel
Formal and precise

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use caste

  • “Lose caste by doing work beneath one's station.”noun

Share your sentence

Write your own example sentence using “caste”. We review each one before it appears.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Hereditary / separate

lower castecaste hinducaste status

Other combinations

caste systemhigh castelow casteupper castemilitary caste

Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • castingnounInflected form

    Object formed by a mold.

  • casternounInflected form

    A worker who casts molten metal into finished products.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • castornounPerson or profession

    A multiple star with 6 components.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • caste systemnounCompound term

    A social structure in which classes are determined by heredity.

  • caster sugarnounCompound term

    Very finely granulated sugar that was formerly sprinkled from a castor.

  • casting lotsnounCompound term

    Making a chance decision by using lots (straws or pebbles etc.) that are thrown or drawn.

  • casting votenounCompound term

    The deciding vote cast by the presiding officer to resolve a tie.

Use This Word

See how this word sounds in a real sentence.

Ask Vocabaura

Understand the word your way.

What Does It Mean Here?

Words can change meaning depending on context.

Use it yourself

Knowing “caste” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.

Know the meaning? Practice using it in a real situation, free, no credits.

Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.