commonwealth
noun
Simple meaning
The entirety of a society, a polity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahmuhnwelthSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑmənwɛlθ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The entirety of a (secular) society, a polity, a state.
A barangay of Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
A barangay of Rosario, Northern Samar, Philippines.
A barangay of Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines.
The Commonwealth of Nations, a loose confederation of nations based around the former British Empire.
Australia
Australia, the Commonwealth of Australia, often referring to its federal government.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The entirety of a (secular) society, a polity, a state.
Used this way, commonwealth is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Politically / political
Official / world
Other combinations
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
A society larger than a tribe. A society large enough to form a state in the sense of a government.
The common good, as identified with the wider state.
A politically organized body of people under a single government.
The collective body of a nation or state as politically organized.
The political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Any of the countries in the British Commonwealth.
British, anniversary of Queen Victoria's birth.
A nation occupying the whole of the Australian continent.
A country on the island of Dominica.
An alliance made up of states that had been Soviet Socialist Republics in the Soviet Union prior to its dissolution in Dec 1991.
An association of nations consisting of the United Kingdom and several former British colonies that are now sovereign states but still pay allegiance to the British Crown.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- taxationnoun
- pennsylvanianoun
- monarchnoun
- federationnoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: entirety of a (secular) society or a polity
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