commonwealth

Meanings

• 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
• 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

Synonyms

body politic, country, democracy, land, nation, republic, res publica, state