WordWeb Online

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 commonwealth has elected a new president";
   - state, nation, country, land, res publica, body politic
    
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
   - republic

1. An association of nations consisting of the United Kingdom and several former British colonies that are now sovereign states but still pay allegiance to the British Crown
   - British Commonwealth, Commonwealth of Nations

Derived forms: commonwealths

Type of: form of government, global organisation [Brit], global organization, international organisation [Brit], international organization, political entity, political system, political unit, province, state, world organisation [Brit], world organization

Encyclopedia: Commonwealth, Virginia