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   com·mon·wealth

   /ˈkämənˌwelTH/

   noun

   • 1. an independent country or community, especially a democratic republic.
   • ▪ an aggregate or grouping of countries or other bodies: "a union or commonwealth of democratic, self-governing countries"
   • ▪ a community or organization of shared interests in a nonpolitical field: "the Christian commonwealth"
   • ▪ a self-governing unit voluntarily grouped with the US, such as Puerto Rico: "the island became a commonwealth of the United States in 1986"
   • ▪ a formal title of some of the states of the US, especially Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
   • ▪ the title of the federated Australian states.
   • ▪ the republican period of government in Britain between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660.
   • 2. an international association consisting of the UK together with states that were previously part of the British Empire, and dependencies. The British monarch is the symbolic head of the Commonwealth.
   • 3. the general good. archaic

   Word Origin late Middle English (originally as two words, denoting public welfare; compare with commonweal): from common + wealth.

   Scrabble Points: 24

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