groups

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of group.

   Two volunteer groups cleaned up the park over the weekend.

   Researchers compared the recovery rates across both treatment groups.

   Note

   One spelling covers every kind of group the singular can name. That includes volunteer groups, but also the groups of abstract algebra, the columns of the periodic table that chemists call groups, and small clusters of nearby galaxies. Only context tells them apart. The same letters also spell the verb form (she groups the files), so the shape of the sentence decides which one is meant.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of group.

   The software groups similar files into folders automatically.

   The curator groups the paintings by period rather than by artist.

   Note

   Both halves of the verb sit behind this form. With an object it means arranging things, and the preposition carries the logic: grouped by names the principle (by period), grouped into names the result (into folders). Without an object, the subject does the gathering itself, as when a crowd groups around a speaker.

   By evening the crowd groups around the stage.

   She groups the samples by size before weighing them.

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