[com.mon.wealth] n (15c) 1 archaic: commonweal 2
2: a nation, state, or other political unit: as a: one founded on law and united by compact or tacit agreement of the people for the common good b: one in which supreme authority is vested in the people c: republic 3 cap a: the English state from the death of Charles I in 1649 to the Restoration in 1660 b: protectorate 1b
4: a state of the U.S.--used officially of Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia
5. cap: a federal union of constituent states--used officially of Australia
6. often cap: an association of self-governing autonomous states more or less loosely associated in a common allegiance (as to the British crown)
7. often cap: a political unit having local autonomy but voluntarily united with the U.S.--used officially of Puerto Rico and of the Northern Mariana Islands