Dictionary definition · commonwealth
noun
- the official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico)
- a politically organized body of people under a single government"the state has elected a new president"
- 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
- a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them
Source: Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).