civitas

American  

[siv-i-tas, kee-wi-tahs] / ˈsɪv ɪˌtæs, ˈki wɪˌtɑs /

noun

• civitates
  plural

1. the body of citizens who constitute a state, especially a city-state, commonwealth, or the like.

2. citizenship, especially as imparting shared responsibility, a common purpose, and sense of community.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• civitates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of civitas

From Latin cīvitās; literally, “commmunity of citizens, citizenship,” equivalent to cīvis “citizen, fellow citizen” + -tās -ty ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

civitas civitates

In addition to maintaining their frontier with an army, Romans carried on a perpetual debate about citizenship, or civitas, and whether to extend its benefits to different groups.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

To gain civitas at birth, a person needed to be the child of two citizens.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Harvey, a self-educated college dropout, talks a lot about William James, agora, public squares and preaching civitas.

From Time Magazine Archive

Bell's book is the year's most promising start on the long road back to civitas.

From Time Magazine Archive

Upon a principle of etymology alone, the term citizen, as derived from civitas, conveys the ideas of connection or identification with the State or Government, and a participation of its functions.

From Report of the Decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Opinions of the Judges Thereof, in the Case of Dred Scott versus John F.A. Sandford December Term, 1856. by Benjamin C. Howard

When the legions departed, the neatly defined "civitates" quickly frayed as rivalries resurfaced.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2014

The bulk of British local government must have been carried on through Roman municipalities, through imperial estates, and still more through tribal civitates using a Romanized constitution.

From The Romanization of Roman Britain by F. (Francis) Haverfield

These, of course, were connected, in degrees more or less close, with the different curtes regiae, and with the placita held in the various civitates commonly about three times in the year.

From The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes. by William Klapp Williams

The Duchy of Beneventum seems to have been divided into gastaldata, divisions of territory similar to the civitates of Lombardy, but presided over by a gastald instead of by a dux or comes.

From The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes. by William Klapp Williams

On the occupation of Gaul the Gallic states and tribes were called civitates by the Romans, 401 and subsequently the name was confined to the chief towns of the various administrative districts.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 4 "Cincinnatus" to "Cleruchy" by Various