citizen
[sit-uh-zuh n, -suh n]
- a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection (distinguished from alien).
- an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to its privileges or franchises.
- an inhabitant, or denizen: The deer is a citizen of our woods.
- a civilian, as distinguished from a soldier, police officer, etc.
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Origin of citizen
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for citizens
Contemporary Examples
Citizens, perhaps, need to feel like they can communicate something to science.
The citizens of Stevens Point defeated fluoridation by a healthy margin.
As soon as this attack [happened], Paris citizens came together to show were are not afraid, we are Charlie Hebdo.
But the other thing that needs to be done is for us citizens to do.
It is the obligation of citizens and journalists as well as governments.
Historical Examples
It is our birthright as citizens of this great Republic, and we'll meet this challenge.
We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.
Americans in need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but priorities.
And our citizens, all school taught, are walking in the same darkness.
A Treatise on Parents and ChildrenGeorge Bernard Shaw
The American, once having made them citizens, cannot unmake them.
American NotesRudyard Kipling
citizen
- a native registered or naturalized member of a state, nation, or other political communityCompare alien
- an inhabitant of a city or town
- a native or inhabitant of any place
- a civilian, as opposed to a soldier, public official, etc
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Word Origin
C14: from Anglo-French citesein, from Old French citeien, from cité, city
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for citizens
citizen
n.
early 14c., "inhabitant of a city," from Anglo-French citezein (spelling subsequently altered, probably by influence of denizen), from Old French citeien "city-dweller, town-dweller, citizen" (12c., Modern French citoyen), from cite (see city) + -ain (see -ian). Replaced Old English burhsittend and ceasterware. Sense of "inhabitant of a country" is late 14c. Citizen's arrest recorded from 1941; citizen's band (radio) from 1947. Citizen of the world (late 15c.) translates Greek kosmopolites.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper