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# caste

«caste» in Mova's school dictionary: **born, which in the past decided what work they did and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a caste, castes)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A group in a society into which people are born, which in the past decided what work they did and whom they could marry; best known from the traditional system in India and Nepal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#m1)

2) Any fixed social class that is hard to move out of. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#m2)

3) (science) A group of insects in a colony that do one kind of job, such as workers, soldiers or the queen in an ant or bee colony. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In history and religion lessons it describes the old caste system linked to Hindu society in South Asia; today caste discrimination is against the law in India, though it still affects many lives. In science it describes the jobs in insect colonies. In stories it tells the reader that someone is held back or treated unfairly because of the group they were born into. Phrases: «caste system», «lower caste», «worker caste».

### examples

- In India, discrimination because of caste is against the law. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x1)
- The old caste system decided which jobs people could do. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x2)
- Dr B. R. Ambedkar fought hard for people treated badly because of their caste. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x3)
- In a beehive, the worker caste collects nectar and the queen lays eggs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x4)
- Termites have a soldier caste with big jaws to guard the nest. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x5)
- In the story, the girl refused to accept that her caste decided her future. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x6)
- Many people today marry across caste lines. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x7)
- And Mowgli had not the faintest idea of the difference that caste makes between man and man. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/#x8)

### note

Countable: a caste, castes. Homophone trap: «cast» (actors in a play; a plaster cast on a broken arm) sounds the same as «caste». Talk about caste respectfully: it is about real people, and treating anyone as lower because of birth is unfair.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «caste» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/caste/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.