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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

res publica en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ɹeɪzˈpʊb.lɪ.kə/ (UK)

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin rēs pūblica. Doublet of republic.

Meanings

  1. (uncountable) The common good, as identified with the wider state; the commonwealth, the body politic.
    • There was no question as yet of republicanism being on the agenda, other than in the old, weak sense of a res publica or commonwealth to which both ruler and ruled owed allegiance. 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 402:
    • At the same time the Roman-barbarian regna distinguished themselves from the res publica. 1997, Herwig Wolfram, The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples, page 190: