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Community vs County - What's the difference?

community | county |

As nouns the difference between community and county

is that community is a group sharing a common understanding and often the same language, manners, tradition and law. See civilization while county is the land ruled by a count or a countess.

As an adjective county is

characteristic of a ‘county family’; representative of the gentry or aristocracy of a county.

community

English

Noun

(wikipedia community) (communities)
  • A group sharing a common understanding and often the same language, manners, tradition and law. See civilization.
  • * Hallam
    • Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community .
  • * Wordsworth
    • Creatures that in communities exist.
    A community is infinitely more brutalised by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurrence of crime (Oscar Wilde)
  • A commune, or residential or religious collective.
  • The condition of having certain attitudes and interests in common.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=(Joseph Stiglitz)
    • , volume=188, issue=26, page=19, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Globalisation is about taxes too , passage=It is time the international community faced the reality: we have an unmanageable, unfair, distortionary global tax regime. It is a tax system that is pivotal in creating the increasing inequality that marks most advanced countries today – with America standing out in the forefront and the UK not far behind.}}
  • (ecology) A group of interdependent organisms inhabiting the same region and interacting with each other.
  • (internet) A group of people interacting by electronic means for social, professional, educational or other purposes; a virtual community.
  • (obsolete) Common possession or enjoyment; participation.
  • * (John Locke)
    • The original community of all things.
  • * (Washington Irving)
    • An unreserved community of thought and feeling.
  • (obsolete) common character; likeness.
  • * H. Spencer
    • The essential community of nature between organic growth and inorganic growth.
  • (obsolete) commonness; frequency
  • * Shakespeare
    • Eyes sick and blunted with community .

    Related terms

    * common * commonalty * commonship * communal * commune * communication * communism * communist

    Derived terms

    * community service * community spirit

    References

    * * *

    county

    English

    Noun

    (counties)
  • (historical) The land ruled by a count or a countess.
  • An administrative region of various countries, including Bhutan, Canada, China, Croatia, France, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Serbia and Montenegro and Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States.
  • A definitive geographic region, without direct administrative functions.
    • traditional county

    Usage notes

    * In American usage, counties are almost always designated as such, with the word "County" capitalized and following the name — e.g., "Lewis County", rarely "Lewis", and never "County Lewis." * In British usage, counties are referenced without designation — e.g. "Kent" and never "Kent County". The exception is Durham, which is often "County Durham" (but never "Durham County"). An organisation such as Kent County Council is the "County Council" of "Kent" and not the "Council" of "Kent County". * In Irish usage, counties are frequently referenced, but like Durham precede the name — e.g., "County Cork" or "Cork" and never "Cork County."

    Derived terms

    * countyhood * countywide * another county heard from * traditional county

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Characteristic of a ‘county family’; representative of the gentry or aristocracy of a county.
  • *1979 , , Smiley's People , Folio Society 2010, p. 274:
  • *:She was a tall girl and county , with Hilary's walk: she seemed to topple even when she sat.