'Commonwealth' definitions:
Definition of 'commonwealth'
(from WordNet)
noun
The official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico)
noun
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]
noun
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
noun
Definition of 'Commonwealth'
From: GCIDE
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 2. The whole body of people in a state; the public. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'commonwealth'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- 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,
- 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,
- John Doe,
- 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,
- 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