adjective
- fond of the company of others; sociable.
- living in flocks or herds, as animals.
- Botany. growing in open clusters or colonies; not matted together.
- pertaining to a flock or crowd.
adjective
- enjoying the company of others
- (of animals) living together in herds or flocksCompare solitary (def. 6)
- (of plants) growing close together but not in dense clusters
- of, relating to, or characteristic of crowds or communities
1660s, “living in flocks” (of animals), from Latin gregarius “pertaining to a flock; of the herd, of the common sort, common,” from grex (genitive gregis) “flock, herd,” reduplication of PIE root *ger- “to gather together, assemble” (cf. Greek ageirein “to assemble,” agora “assembly;” Old Church Slavonic grusti “handful;” Lithuanian gurgulys “chaos, confusion,” gurguole “crowd, mass”). Sense of “sociable” first recorded 1789. Related: Gregariously; gregariousness.