gregarious
/ɡrɪˈɡɛːrɪəs
/adjective
1(Of a person) fond of company; sociable: he was a popular and gregarious man...
- Even though she was so gregarious and loved to chat, she also liked to listen.
- He is naturally gregarious, and the work obviously suits him.
- Being in the public eye doesn't necessarily mean you're gregarious.
Synonyms
sociable, social, company-loving, companionable, convivial, clubbable;
outgoing, friendly, affable, amiable, genial, congenial, cordial, hospitable, neighbourly, welcoming, warm, pleasant, comradely, hail-fellow-well-met;
Scottish couthy
informal chummy, pally
British informal matey, decent
North American informal clubby, buddy-buddy
rare conversable
1.1(Of animals) living in flocks or loosely organized communities: gregarious species forage in flocks from colonies or roosts...
- Many of these raptor species are gregarious, which accounts for impressively large flocks of impressively large birds.
- Western Grebes are highly gregarious in all seasons, wintering in large flocks and nesting in colonies.
- Rheas are gregarious in habit, and tend to live in flocks ranging in size from 5-30 individuals.
Synonyms
social, organized, living in shoals/flocks/herds
1.2(Of plants) growing in open clusters or in pure associations: in the wild, trees are usually gregarious plants...
- In the Western Ghats, at an altitude of about 1,600 metres, in the region of sholas and grasslands, the kurinji flourishes as a gregarious shrub.
- If you are planting them in a container, don't skimp with the bulbs - Agapanthus is a gregarious flower that likes to be crowded.
- Ocencyrtus johnsonii is both gregarious and engages in superparasitism.
Derivatives
gregariously
/ adverb ...- Locusts are normally lone creatures, but when times are good and their numbers boom, they modify their behaviour and group together gregariously.
- Several hundred individuals consisting of at least two generations of adults and immatures live gregariously over a long period.
- They roost gregariously, sometimes in very large colonies, and some species are thought to roost exclusively in caves.
gregariousness
/ noun ...- The English springer spaniel truly is an energetic, outgoing breed, and most springers exhibit a gregariousness, warmth and sweet-temper that makes them a joy to know.
- He also moonlighted as a sports journalist in his early years, and has retained a gregariousness that always disarms those expecting a less approachable boss.
- He says he gets his gregariousness from his father and his toughness and business sense - he is highly numerate - from his mother.
Origin
Mid 17th century: from Latin gregarius (from grex, greg- 'a flock') + -ous.
congregate from Late Middle English:
The Latin word for a herd or flock was grex, giving congregare, meaning ‘to collect into a herd or flock, to unite’. Gregarious (mid 17th century), meaning ‘fond of company’, is also descended from grex, as are aggregate (Late Middle English) ‘herd together’; egregious (mid 16th century) ‘standing out from the herd’ and originally complimentary; and segregation (mid 16th century) ‘set apart from the herd’.