kibbutz
n. countablen. a community in Israel where people share everything they own and work together. It started as a way for Jewish families to live and farm together in the early 20th century.
n. a collective community in Israel, originally established by Jewish pioneers, characterized by shared ownership of land and resources and collective child-rearing. Often used to describe the historical socialist movement or the specific agricultural settlements.
The family spent their summer vacation at a kibbutz.
Many early kibbutzim were founded in the 1930s to provide a self-sufficient, egalitarian lifestyle for Jewish immigrants.
While the original kibbutz model emphasized absolute equality and communal living, many modern settlements have transitioned to a more privatized economy while maintaining their agricultural roots.
From Hebrew קִבּוּץ (kibúts), derived from the verb קָבַץ (kaváts, “to gather, collect, assemble”). Not related to kibitz.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Last updated May 30, 2026