communal

[ kuh-myoon-l, kom-yuh-nl ]

adjective

1. used or shared in common by everyone in a group:

   a communal jug of wine.

2. of, by, or belonging to the people of a community; shared or participated in by the public:

   communal land; Building the playground was a communal project.

   Synonyms: collective, common, public

3. pertaining to a commune or a community:

   communal life.

4. engaged in by or involving two or more communities:

   communal conflict.

communal

/ ˌkɒmjʊˈnælɪtɪ; ˈkɒmjʊnəl /

adjective

1. belonging or relating to a community as a whole
2. relating to different groups within a society

   communal strife

3. of or relating to a commune or a religious community

Derived Forms

• ˈcommunally, adverb
• communality, noun

Other Words From

• com·munal·ly adverb
• inter·com·munal adjective
• noncom·munal adjective
• noncom·munal·ly adverb
• uncom·munal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of communal¹

First recorded in 1805–15; from French, from Latin commūnālis, equivalent to commūn(e) “community, state” + -ālis adjective suffix; commune ², -al ¹

Example Sentences

You might catch baby rats mischievously battling to figure out how to fight, or Komodo dragons sticking their heads into buckets to learn about communal feeding.

From Popular-Science

The large chains have introduced apps that turn your smartphone into a remote control to avoid touching communal buttons or screens.

From Ozy

This same complex communal response helped fuel the riots in Kenosha last week.

From Vox

Food items for lunch and dinner are available from points on each floor at specified times and communal areas are cleaned every 15 minutes.

From Digiday

So, first I’d have a talk with the renter and point out that – in a communal environment, especially in times of a public health crisis – everyone’s actions affect everyone else.

From No Straight News

The remote controlled flying craft has gone from covert military ops to a communal backyard hobby.

From The Daily Beast

It was about his art-making, but the communal life was based on erotic liberation.

From The Daily Beast

Elsewhere, the bi-communal separation continues, with fierce nationalists seemingly intent on cementing this divide.

From The Daily Beast

Contestants, huddled on the couches of a communal room, clutched their faces in shock and some broke into sobs.

From The Daily Beast

Winters uses that cataclysmic event to examine the slow deterioration of communal life in the face of annihilation.

From The Daily Beast

One important characteristic of the communal animals is that they become mentally specialized.

From Project Gutenberg

The hive bee, the most communal in habit, shows the highest traits of intelligent activity.

From Project Gutenberg

The social animals differ from the communal in that the individuality of the members is fully preserved.

From Project Gutenberg

The result of such a process of evolution in the case of the communal animals is a strict specialism.

From Project Gutenberg

While only in minor traits communal, they are eminently social, and have doubtless derived great advantage from this.

From Project Gutenberg