gesellschaft: Meaning and Definition of

ge•sell•schaft

1. an association of individuals for common goals, as for entertainment, intellectual, or cultural purposes or for business reasons.
2. a society or group characterized chiefly by formal organization, impersonal relations, the absence of generally held or binding norms, and a detachment from traditional and sentimental concerns, and often tending to be rationalistic and secular in outlook. Cf. Gemeinschaft.