definition of
commonwealth

[1] #1 commonwealth n. the official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico). wn

[2] #2 commonwealth n. [state, nation, country, land, res publica, body politic] 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". wn

[3] #3 commonwealth n. 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. wn

[4] #4 commonwealth n. [democracy, republic] a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them. wn