Deme

//diːm// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A township or other subdivision of ancient Attica.

    "If two persons bore the same name[…] ambiguity was avoided […] by indicating their place of origin, the name of the tribe or deme being added for persons of the same town […], and the name of the country or town for foreigners […]."

  2. 2
    A distinct local population of plants or animals.

Example

More examples

"If two persons bore the same name[…] ambiguity was avoided […] by indicating their place of origin, the name of the tribe or deme being added for persons of the same town […], and the name of the country or town for foreigners […]."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek δῆμος (dêmos, “district”). Doublet of demos.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.