Word of the Day

Sunday, May 12, 2002

gregarious

\grih-GAIR-ee-us\ , adjective;

Tending to form a group with others of the same kind.

Seeking and enjoying the company of others.

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Quotes:

True locusts, which are actually certain kinds of grasshoppers, are usually solitary and rather sluggish, but when they are crowded they enter a gregarious and highly active migratory phase.

-- Gilbert Waldbauer, Millions of Monarchs, Bunches of Beetles

In the newly discovered gene, the change of a single unit of DNA converts the worm from a solitary forager into a gregarious diner.

-- "Can Social Behavior of Man Be Glimpsed in a Lowly Worm?", New York Times, September 7, 1998

My efforts to cultivate an identity as a strong silent type have consistently been undermined by my gregarious nature and my delight in conversation.

-- Marty Jezer, Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words

Although social and gregarious when he wants to be, Phil learned, during our early years together, not only to savor but also to require long periods of hermitlike solitude.

-- Frances K. Conley, Walking Out on the Boys

Origin:

Gregarious is from Latin gregarius, "belonging to a herd or flock," from grex, greg-, "herd, flock."