commonwealth

noun

1. 1

   a politically organized body of people under a single government

   the state has elected a new president

   African nations

2. 2

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

3. 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. 4

   the official name of some states in the United States (Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Kentucky) and associated territories (Puerto Rico)