Purpose of the paper is to describe the semantic history of the word “sotzial'nii” (social) in the Russian language on the basis of analysis of dictionaries. Methodology and Approach. The author conducted a lexicographic analysis of the word “sotzial'nii” (social) based on the materials presented in the Russian dictionaries of various types (etymological, explanatory, full and short, highly specialized, encyclopedic, universal, frequency of use dictionaries, etc.) of the XIX-XXI centuries. Research methods such as the comparative historical method and the content analysis method have been used. Results. The data presented in the Russian explanatory and encyclopedic dictionaries have been analyzed and summarized. Conclusions are drawn about how the adjective “sotzial'nii” (social), first recorded in the dictionaries of the Russian language at the end of 1850 has gradually expanded the scope of its use, forming set expressions of terminological nature. Theoretical and Practical implications. The practical significance of the study of the word life cycle is to identify the original meaning of the lexical unit “sotzial'nii” (social), analyze its “semantic increments” and clarify the modern meaning, including the meanings it has as a part of fixed word combinations. The study of the semantic history of the word “sotzial'nii” (social) is necessary to clarify the meaning of set expressions such as ‘social'naja kommunikacija’ (social communication), ‘social'nyj perevod’ (social translation) in order to terminologize them.