Adjacent Words

commonwealth definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico)
2: a politically organized body of people under a single government; "the state has elected a new president"; "African nations"; "students who had come to the nation's capitol"; "the country's largest manufacturer"; "an industrialized land" [syn: state, nation, country, land, commonwealth, res publica, body politic]
3: a world organization of autonomous states that are united in allegiance to a central power but are not subordinate to it or to one another
4: a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them [syn: democracy, republic, commonwealth]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 15th century 1. archaic commonweal 2 2. a nation, state, or other political unit: as a. one founded on law and united by compact or tacit agreement of the people for the common good b. one in which supreme authority is vested in the people c. republic 3. capitalized a. the English state from the death of Charles I in 1649 to the Restoration in 1660 b. protectorate 1b 4. a state of the U.S. — used officially of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia 5. capitalized a federal union of constituent states — used officially of Australia 6. often capitalized an association of self-governing autonomous states more or less loosely associated in a common allegiance (as to the British crown) 7. often capitalized a political unit having local autonomy but voluntarily united with the U.S. — used officially of Puerto Rico and of the Northern Mariana Islands

Britannica Concise

Free association of sovereign states consisting of Britain and many of its former dependencies who have chosen to maintain ties of friendship and cooperation. It was established in 1931 by the Statute of Westminster as the British Commonwealth of Nations. Later its name was changed and it was redefined to include independent nations. Most of the dependent states that gained independence after 1947 chose Commonwealth membership. The British monarch serves as its symbolic head, and meetings of the more than 50 Commonwealth heads of government take place every two years. See also British empire.

Britannica Concise

Body politic founded on law for the common "weal," or good. The term was often used by 17th-cent. writers to signify an organized political community, its meaning thus being similar to the modern meaning of state or nation. Today it primarily refers to the Commonwealth. Four U.S. states (Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) call themselves commonwealths, a distinction in name only. Puerto Rico has been a commonwealth rather than a state since 1952; its residents, though U.S. citizens, have only a nonvoting representative in Congress and pay no federal taxes.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a an independent State or community, esp. a democratic republic. b such a community or organization of shared interests in a non-political field (the commonwealth of learning). 2 (the Commonwealth) a (in full the British Commonwealth of Nations) an international association consisting of the UK together with States that were previously part of the British Empire. b the republican period of government in Britain 1649-60. c US a part of the title of some of the States of the US. d the title of the federated Australian States. Phrases and idioms: Commonwealth Day a day each year commemorating the British Commonwealth (formerly called Empire Day). Etymology: COMMON + WEALTH

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Commonwealth Com"mon*wealth` (?; 277), n. [Common + wealth well-being.] 1. A state; a body politic consisting of a certain number of men, united, by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and system of laws. The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth. --Milton. Note: This term is applied to governments which are considered as free or popular, but rarely, or improperly, to an absolute government. The word signifies, strictly, the common well-being or happiness; and hence, a form of government in which the general welfare is regarded rather than the welfare of any class. 2. The whole body of people in a state; the public. 3. (Eng. Hist.) Specifically, the form of government established on the death of Charles I., in 1649, which existed under Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard, ending with the abdication of the latter in 1659. Syn: State; realm; republic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. The Commonwealth is an organization consisting of the United Kingdom and most of the countries that were previously under its rule. N-PROPER: the N 2. Commonwealth is used in the official names of some countries, groups of countries, or parts of countries. ...the Commonwealth of Australia. ...the Commonwealth of Independent States, which replaced the Soviet Union. N-IN-NAMES: the N of n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kom'-un-welth (politeia): Spoken of theocracy (Eph 2:12). The same word is rendered "freedom," the King James Version; "citizenship" the Revised Version (British and American). Also in the sense of commonwealth in the Apocrypha (2 Macc 4:11; 8:17; 13:14); in the sense of citizenship (3 Macc 3:21,23).

See CITIZENSHIP.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. State, nation, republic, body politic, public interest, the people. 2. The public, the people, the community, body of the people.

Moby Thesaurus

Everyman, John Doe, Public, absolute monarchy, ally, archduchy, archdukedom, aristocracy, ashram, autarchy, autocracy, autonomy, body, body politic, buffer state, captive nation, caste, chieftaincy, chieftainry, citizenry, city-state, clan, class, coalition government, colonialism, colony, common man, commonweal, commune, community, community at large, constituency, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, country, county, cultural community, democracy, dictatorship, domain, dominion, dominion rule, duarchy, duchy, dukedom, duumvirate, dwellers, dyarchy, earldom, economic class, empery, empire, endogamous group, estate, everybody, everyman, everyone, everywoman, extended family, family, federal government, federation, feudal system, folk, folks, free city, garrison state, general public, gens, gentry, gerontocracy, grand duchy, habitancy, heteronomy, hierarchy, hierocracy, home rule, inhabitants, kingdom, kinship group, land, limited monarchy, linguistic community, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, martial law, men, meritocracy, militarism, military government, mob rule, mobocracy, moiety, monarchy, nation, nationality, neocolonialism, nuclear family, ochlocracy, oligarchy, order, pantisocracy, patriarchate, patriarchy, people, people at large, people in general, persons, phratria, phratry, phyle, police state, polis, polity, populace, population, possession, power, principality, principate, protectorate, province, public, puppet government, puppet regime, pure democracy, realm, regency, representative democracy, representative government, republic, satellite, self-determination, self-government, seneschalty, settlement, social class, social democracy, society, sovereign nation, speech community, state, stratocracy, subcaste, sultanate, superpower, technocracy, territory, thearchy, theocracy, toparchia, toparchy, totalitarian government, totalitarian regime, totem, triarchy, triumvirate, tyranny, welfare state, whole people, world, you and me