Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Fellowship at table; the act or practice of eating at the same table.
- noun In zoology and botany, the state or condition of being commensal; commensalism.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Fellowship at table; the act or practice of eating at the same table.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun obsolete The act of eating together.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word commensality.
Examples
-
These blend sociability and conversation, keynotes of the Scottish Enlightenment, with more universal practices such as commensality and drinking.
OUPblog 2009
-
May the commensality of the season spread throughout the year.
Balkinization 2004
-
These races have had thousands of years to accommodate to one another, to achieve local commensality.
A Fire Upon the Deep Vinge, Vernor 1992
-
Early Christian writers saw the Eucharist as spiritual refreshment and as a pledge of the Church's unity: they stressed commensality, the gathering of the faithful in the communion of a liturgical repast.
Crash Diets Keen, Maurice 1987
-
Evidence has been yearly accumulating on the existence of restrictions as to intermarriage, and as to the right of eating together (commensality) among other Aryan tribes, Greeks, Germans, Russians and so on.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
-
Equally definite and elaborate are the manifold restrictions on marriage, commensality, occupation, food, ceremonial observances and personal conduct which affect the mutual relations not only between the different castes but also between the innumerable sub-castes into which the higher castes especially have in turns split up.
Indian Unrest Valentine Chirol 1890
-
Among the Greeks the right of commensality, or eating together, was restricted.
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 01 Rossiter Johnson 1885
-
The rule is a very ancient Semitic one, due to the old connection between sacrifice and commensality.
Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals William Graham Sumner 1875
-
Kingdom of God present on earth and available to all as manifested in the acts of Jesus in healing the sick and practicing an open commensality in which all were invited to share.
CNN.com 2011
-
And if you must impute some spiritual importance to the wine and the moment, think of it as the fellowship of commensality, even sort of a secular eucharistic feast.
mondosapore 2009
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.