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commonwealth

Pronunciation: /ˈkɑmənˌwɛlθ/

The English word “commonwealth” has 3 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. The well-being of a community.
  2. The entirety of a (secular) society, a polity, a state.
  3. Republic. Often capitalized, as Commonwealth.

Etymology

From common (“public”) + wealth (“well-being”). From c. 1450 as common wele (commonweal). In the form common-wealth (common welthe) from c. 1520, used by Tyndale in the sense "secular society" in particular, for which other authors preferred publike weal. Also from the 1520s treated as a synonym or loan-translation of res publica (republic) (Rollison 2017:67f).

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