"commonweal" meaning in All languages combined

See commonweal on Wiktionary

Noun [English]

IPA: /ˌkɒmənˈwiːl/ Forms: commonweals [plural]
Etymology: From Middle English comon wele, commen wele, comune wele, equivalent to common (“public”) + weal (“well-being”). By the 1520s used by some authors as the equivalent of res publica (republic), alongside commonwealth from about the same time. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|comon wele}} Middle English comon wele, {{com|en|common|weal|t1=public|t2=well-being}} common (“public”) + weal (“well-being”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} commonweal (plural commonweals)
  1. (obsolete or archaic) The common good; public wellbeing or prosperity Tags: archaic, obsolete
    Sense id: en-commonweal-en-noun-QFOdwT7t Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 85 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 82 18 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 85 15
  2. The body politic; republic
    Sense id: en-commonweal-en-noun-mUedeM6d
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: common weal Derived forms: commonwealth

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "commonwealth"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "comon wele"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English comon wele",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "common",
        "3": "weal",
        "t1": "public",
        "t2": "well-being"
      },
      "expansion": "common (“public”) + weal (“well-being”)",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English comon wele, commen wele, comune wele, equivalent to common (“public”) + weal (“well-being”). By the 1520s used by some authors as the equivalent of res publica (republic), alongside commonwealth from about the same time.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "commonweals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "commonweal (plural commonweals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "82 18",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "85 15",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XIII, In Parliament”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):",
          "text": "He had to judge the people as justice Errant […]; to equip his milites, send them duly in war-time to the King; — strive every way that the Commonweal, in his quarter of it, take no damage.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995 May 21, Steven Levy, “The Unabomber and David Gelernter”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "He yearns for the days when people, for reasons of the commonweal, did what they were told.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The common good; public wellbeing or prosperity"
      ],
      "id": "en-commonweal-en-noun-QFOdwT7t",
      "links": [
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "good",
          "good"
        ],
        [
          "public",
          "public"
        ],
        [
          "wellbeing",
          "wellbeing"
        ],
        [
          "prosperity",
          "prosperity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete or archaic) The common good; public wellbeing or prosperity"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1531, Thomas Elyot, chapter I, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC:",
          "text": "[...] hit semeth that men haue ben longe abused in calling Rempublica a commune weale. And they which do suppose it so to be called for that, that euery thinge shulde be to all men in commune without discrepance of any astate or condition, be ther to moued more by sensualite, than by any good reason or inclination to humanite. [...] And consequently there may appere lyke deuersitie to be englisshe, betwene a publike weale & a commune weale, as shulde be in latin betwene Res publica and Res plebeia.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The body politic; republic"
      ],
      "id": "en-commonweal-en-noun-mUedeM6d",
      "links": [
        [
          "body politic",
          "body politic"
        ],
        [
          "republic",
          "republic"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkɒmənˈwiːl/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "common weal"
    }
  ],
  "word": "commonweal"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "commonwealth"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "comon wele"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English comon wele",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "common",
        "3": "weal",
        "t1": "public",
        "t2": "well-being"
      },
      "expansion": "common (“public”) + weal (“well-being”)",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English comon wele, commen wele, comune wele, equivalent to common (“public”) + weal (“well-being”). By the 1520s used by some authors as the equivalent of res publica (republic), alongside commonwealth from about the same time.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "commonweals",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "commonweal (plural commonweals)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XIII, In Parliament”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):",
          "text": "He had to judge the people as justice Errant […]; to equip his milites, send them duly in war-time to the King; — strive every way that the Commonweal, in his quarter of it, take no damage.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1995 May 21, Steven Levy, “The Unabomber and David Gelernter”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:",
          "text": "He yearns for the days when people, for reasons of the commonweal, did what they were told.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The common good; public wellbeing or prosperity"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "good",
          "good"
        ],
        [
          "public",
          "public"
        ],
        [
          "wellbeing",
          "wellbeing"
        ],
        [
          "prosperity",
          "prosperity"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete or archaic) The common good; public wellbeing or prosperity"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1531, Thomas Elyot, chapter I, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC:",
          "text": "[...] hit semeth that men haue ben longe abused in calling Rempublica a commune weale. And they which do suppose it so to be called for that, that euery thinge shulde be to all men in commune without discrepance of any astate or condition, be ther to moued more by sensualite, than by any good reason or inclination to humanite. [...] And consequently there may appere lyke deuersitie to be englisshe, betwene a publike weale & a commune weale, as shulde be in latin betwene Res publica and Res plebeia.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The body politic; republic"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "body politic",
          "body politic"
        ],
        [
          "republic",
          "republic"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌkɒmənˈwiːl/"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "common weal"
    }
  ],
  "word": "commonweal"
}

Download raw JSONL data for commonweal meaning in All languages combined (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-31 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (bcd5c38 and 9dbd323). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.