gregarious
adjective
Did you know?
Everyone knows that birds of a feather flock together, so it comes as no surprise that gregarious was applied mainly to animals when it first began appearing in English texts in the 17th century. After all, gregarious comes from the Latin noun grex, meaning “flock” or “herd,” and it’s tough to avoid being social when you’re part of a flock, flying and roosting cheek by jowl (or beak) with your fellow feathered friends. Take starlings, for example, which congregate in massive numbers—we define the word starling as “any of a family of usually dark gregarious birds,” meaning that starlings are inclined to associate with others of their kind. By the 18th century gregarious was being used to describe social human beings as well, be they chatty Cathys or convivial Connors who relish being in the company of others.
Examples of gregarious in a Sentence
Jean Strouse, New Yorker, 29 Mar. 1999
… the gregarious trade unionist whose back-slapping mateyness helped make him Australia's most popular politician.
—Time, 3 Apr. 1989
As it is a night of many parties, the more social, the more gregarious, the more invited of the guests are wondering whether to go to Harley Street first, or whether to arrive there later, after sampling other offerings.
—Margaret Drabble, Harper's, July 1987
She is outgoing and gregarious.
a gregarious child who ran up to every person on the playground and wanted to be their friend
Elizabeth Cantrell, Travel + Leisure, 14 June 2025
Meanwhile, dry conditions caused both solitary and gregarious locusts to have smaller offspring than in dry conditions—and both these hatchlings from small and large eggs were found to have residual yolk within their guts after birth.
—Ian Randall, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 May 2025
Edwards is a gregarious and mysterious man who catches the eye of every single woman in the county (maybe some of the married ones, too).
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 27 May 2025
In conversation, Lee is grizzled and gregarious, quick to cackle, and prone to starry-eyed digressions about music’s overwhelming power and his partner’s formidable songwriting chops.
—Elias Leight, Billboard, 1 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for gregarious
Cite this Entry
“Gregarious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gregarious. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gregarious
adjective
from Latin gregarius "relating to a herd or flock," from greg-, grex "flock, herd" — related to congregate
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