commonwealth

noun com·mon·wealth \ ˈkä-mən-ˌwelth also -ˌweltth \

|Updated on: 19 Jun 2018

Examples: commonwealth in a Sentence

Definition of commonwealth

1 archaic : commonweal 2

2 : a nation, state, or other political unit: such 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

See commonwealth defined for English-language learners

See commonwealth defined for kids

Examples of commonwealth in a Sentence

laws that will benefit all the citizens of the commonwealth

Recent Examples of commonwealth from the Web

Another round of primary elections meant more big wins for women this week, notably in the commonwealth of Virginia where there are no Democratic women in Congress currently.

— abby gardner, Glamour, "Primary Takeaways: A Big Win for Democratic Women in Virginia and a Sexist Narrative in North Dakota," 13 June 2018
Additionally there was plenty of symbolism included that was befitting of a traditional royal wedding outfit: the veil was embroidered with 53 flowers representing each country of the commonwealth.

— marcia moody, Town & Country, "How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Wedding Stuck to Royal Tradition," 19 May 2018
Waight Keller didn’t specify if that included the veil, which was 16 feet long and embroidered with flora of commonwealth countries.

— sarah spellings, The Cut, "Meghan Markle’s Dress Took Insanely Long to Create," 21 May 2018
In addition to creating the dress, Keller designed a trailing veil that included a flower from each of the 53 countries in the commonwealth embroidered at the hem.

— erica gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, "Givenchy's Clare Waight Keller Talks Designing Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding Dress," 20 May 2018
Formerly known as British Honduras, and still a British commonwealth, Belize is located in Central America, along the Caribbean Sea.

— jeff piorkowski/special to cleveland.com, cleveland.com, "Mayfield Heights dentist travels to Belize to offer her services to children in need," 7 May 2018
The outcome: a headless Charles, and a kingless commonwealth.

— patt morrison, latimes.com, "After centuries of practice, Britain's royals figure out how to turn a wedding into a global watch party," 17 May 2018
The commonwealth of Massachusetts has once again signaled the imminent arrival of one-stop shopping for consumers who want to know the price of a common medical test or procedure.

— tom delbanco, STAT, "Transparency on quality and price will transform medicine," 9 May 2018
The struggle to maintain this aspect of Virginia has been long and fraught, even as the state's black cemeteries remain unknown to most residents of the commonwealth.

— george copeland jr. and thomas jett, The Christian Science Monitor, "Ignored and overgrown, Virginia's historic black cemeteries get cleaned up," 8 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'commonwealth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of commonwealth

15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

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commonwealth Synonyms

Synonyms

country, land, nation, sovereignty (also sovranty), state;

Related Words

city-state, ministate, nation-state;

domain, dominion, empire, kingdom, realm, republic;

democracy, dictatorship, monarchy, monocracy, oligarchy, sovereign (also sovran), theocracy;

fatherland, homeland, motherland;

great power, power, sea power, superpower, world power;

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

COMMONWEALTH Defined for English Language Learners

commonwealth

noun

Definition of commonwealth for English Language Learners

: a group of countries or states that have political or economic connections with one another
the Commonwealth : a U.S. state
: a political unit that is like a U.S. state but that pays no federal taxes and has only a representative in Congress who does not vote

COMMONWEALTH Defined for Kids

commonwealth

noun com·mon·wealth \ ˈkä-mən-ˌwelth \

Definition of commonwealth for Students

1 : a political unit (as a nation or state)

2 : one of four states of the United States—Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, or Virginia

Law Dictionary

commonwealth

noun com·mon·wealth \ ˈkä-mən-ˌwelth \

legal Definition of commonwealth

1 : a nation, state, or other political unit: as

a : one founded on law and united by compact or tacit agreement by the people for the common good

b : one in which supreme authority is vested in the people

c : republic

2 : a state of the U.S. —used officially of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia

3 often capitalized : an association of self-governing autonomous states more or less loosely associated in a common allegiance (as to the British crown)

4 often capitalized : a political unit having local autonomy but voluntarily united with the U.S. —used officially of Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands