The term community has two distinct commutive meanings: 1) Community usually refers to a larger than a small village that shares common values. The term can also refer to the national community or international community, and, 2) in biology, a community is a group of interacting living organisms sharing a populated environment. A community is a group or society, helping each other.
In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness.
Since the advent of the Internet, the concept of community has less geographical limitation, as people can now gather virtually in an online community and share common interests regardless of physical location. Prior to the internet, virtual communities (like social or academic organizations) were far more limited by the constraints of available communication and transportation technologies.
The word "community" is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (cum, "with/together" + munus, "gift"), a broad term for fellowship or organized society. Some examples of community service are to help in church, tutoring, hospitals, etc.
Read more about Community: Community Development, Types of Community, Special Nature of Human Community
Famous quotes containing the word community:
“... to a poet, the human community is like the community of birds to a bird, singing to each other. Love is one of the reasons we are singing to one another, love of language itself, love of sound, love of singing itself, and love of the other birds.”
—Sharon Olds (b. 1942)
“Who ever hears of fat men heading a riot, or herding together in turbulent mobs?—No—no, ‘tis your lean, hungry men who are continually worrying society, and setting the whole community by the ears.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)
“I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion. Leaving the higher matter of eternal consequences, between him and his Maker, I still do not think any man has the right thus to insult the feelings, and injure the morals, of the community in which he may live.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)