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Commonwealth vs Sovereign - What's the difference?

commonwealth | sovereign |

As nouns the difference between commonwealth and sovereign

is that commonwealth is a form of government, named for the concept that everything that is not owned by specific individuals or groups is owned collectively by everyone in the governmental unit, as opposed to a state, where the state itself owns such things while sovereign is a monarch; the ruler of a country.

As a proper noun Commonwealth

is the Commonwealth of Nations, a loose confederation of nations based around the former British Empire.

As an adjective sovereign is

exercising power of rule.

commonwealth

Noun

(en noun)
  • A form of government, named for the concept that everything that is not owned by specific individuals or groups is owned collectively by everyone in the governmental unit, as opposed to a state , where the state itself owns such things.
  • Approximately, a republic.
  • May 19, 1649' ''Be it declared and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authoritie of the same That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territoryes thereunto belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a '''Commonwealth''' and free State]] And shall from henceforth be Governed as a '''Commonwealth and Free State by the supreame Authoritie of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliam[ent] and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King or House of Lords. [[s:An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth, Act of the Long Parliament.

    Derived terms

    For example, the official name of Australia is Commonwealth of Australia'. It is applied to four states of the United States, to wit, the '''Commonwealth of Pennsylvania''', the '''Commonwealth of Kentucky''', the '''Commonwealth of Massachusetts''', and the '''Commonwealth of Virginia'''. Also used by self-governing, semi-autonomous units such as the ' Commonwealth of Puerto Rico .

    sovereign

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Exercising power of rule.
  • sovereign nation
  • Exceptional in quality.
  • Extremely potent or effective (of a medicine, remedy etc.).
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , III.v:
  • The soueraigne weede betwixt two marbles plaine / She pownded small, and did in peeces bruze, / And then atweene her lilly handes twaine, / Into his wound the iuyce thereof did scruze
  • * (rfdate) Dryden
  • a sovereign remedy
  • * (rfdate) South
  • Such a sovereign influence has this passion upon the regulation of the lives and actions of men.
  • Having supreme, ultimate power.
  • Princely; royal.
  • * (rfdate) Shakespeare
  • most sovereign name
  • Predominant; greatest; utmost; paramount.
  • * (rfdate) Hooker
  • We acknowledge him [God] our sovereign good.

    Derived terms

    * sovereignly

    Synonyms

    * autonomous * supreme

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A monarch; the ruler of a country.
  • * Jefferson
  • No question is to be made but that the bed of the Mississippi belongs to the sovereign , that is, to the nation.
  • One who is not a subject to a ruler or nation.
  • A gold coin of the United Kingdom, with a nominal value of one pound sterling but in practice used as a bullion coin.
  • A very large champagne bottle with the capacity of about 25 liters, equivalent to 33? standard bottles.
  • Any butterfly of the tribe , as the (ursula) and the viceroy.
  • Hyponyms

    * (monarch) king, queen

    Derived terms

    * sovereignty

    See also

    * half sovereign/half-sovereign English words not following the I before E except after C rule