- Community
- Community Com*mu"ni*ty, n.; pl. {Communities}. [L. communitas:
cf. OF. communit['e]. Cf. {Commonalty}, and see {Common}.]
1. Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a
community of goods.
[1913 Webster]
The original community of all things. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
An unreserved community of thought and feeling. --W. Irving. [1913 Webster]
2. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests. [1913 Webster]
Creatures that in communities exist. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
3. Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic; the public, or people in general. [1913 Webster]
Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community. --Hallam. [1913 Webster]
Note: In this sense, the term should be used with the definite article; as, the interests of the community. [1913 Webster]
4. Common character; likeness. [R.] [1913 Webster]
The essential community of nature between organic growth and inorganic growth. --H. Spencer. [1913 Webster]
5. Commonness; frequency. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Eyes . . . sick and blunted with community. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.