commonweal
Americannoun
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the common welfare; the public good.
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Archaic. the body politic; a commonwealth.
noun
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the good of the community
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another name for commonwealth
Etymology
Origin of commonweal
First recorded in 1350–1400, commonweal is from Middle English comen wele. See common, weal 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Compromise and consensus — the animating creeds of our commonweal — have ebbed away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2025
A speech designed to discuss the commonweal will be delivered to a nation that is having increasing difficulty finding much of anything in common.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 27, 2022
Politicians and assorted intellectuals lazily depict public expressions of faith as providing exponential benefits for the commonweal.
From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2022
The problem, of course, is a widespread disinclination to serve that good, whether it is fueled by selfishness and ignorance or the sense that one’s contributions to the commonweal have not felt adequately reciprocal.
From New York Times ● Oct. 29, 2021
The idea of a world commonweal has to be established as the criterion of political institutions, and also as the criterion of general conduct in hundreds of millions of brains.
From The Salvaging Of Civilisation by H. G.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
