commonalty

American  

[kom-uh-nl-tee] / ˈkɒm ə nl ti /

noun

plural

commonalties

1. Also the ordinary people, as distinguished from those with authority, rank, station, etc.; the common people.

2. an incorporated body or its members.

---

commonalty British  

/ ˈkɒmənəltɪ /

noun

1. the ordinary people as distinct from those with authority, rank, or title, esp when considered as a political and social unit or estate of the realm Compare third estate

2. the members of an incorporated society

---

Etymology

Origin of commonalty

1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French comunalte, equivalent to comunal- communal + -te -ty ²; replacing Middle English communaute < Old French

Example Sentences

Greenwood notes a commonalty between Darwin and the other death fakers she’s studied: “Their ideas, while bizarre and demented, do possess a certain internal logic,” like the famed “reality distortion field” generated by Steve Jobs.

From Slate • Sep. 9, 2016

Happy the editor who can turn sensational "copy" into proof of his devotion to the welfare of the commonalty.

From Time Magazine Archive

It made its deepest impression as an attempt to bring poetry back to the general understanding of Americans, to make its language that of the commonalty of citizens.

From Time Magazine Archive

This point, however obvious, is instrumental in establishing the commonalty of friendship.

From Time Magazine Archive

When Lancelot rode by, laughing at some private joke with the Queen, the commonalty were amazed that be could laugh.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White