Meaning & Definition of Commonwealth in English

1. The official name of some states in the united states (massachusetts and pennsylvania and virginia and kentucky) and associated territories (puerto rico)

2. 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"

3. 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

4. A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them