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.
&fist; 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.
Hear it pronounced