social contract

noun

: an actual or hypothetical agreement among the members of an organized society or between a community and its ruler that defines and limits the rights and duties of each

Examples of social contract in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Because the conditions in the original state of nature are fair, whatever social contract these proto-citizens come up with will be just. —George G. Szpiro, Big Think, 9 Apr. 2026

And the whole social contract around the work of art is part of the experience. —Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 5 Apr. 2026

Their national budgets, their infrastructure programs, their social contracts with their populations depend on their ability to sell oil, which flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the 21-mile passage between Iran and Oman. —Bobby Ghosh, Time, 25 Mar. 2026

These figures and many others call for elections for a fresh constituent assembly that could draw up a new social contract for Iran. —Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 1 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for social contract

• overreact
• abstract
• attacked
• attract
• contact
• detract
• distract
• enact
• exact
• extract
• hijacked
• impact

Legal Definition

social contract

noun

so·​cial contract

: an actual or hypothetical agreement among individuals forming an organized society or between the community and the ruler that defines and limits the rights and duties of each