Phrase guide

res publica

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ɹeɪzˈpʊb.lɪ.kə/

1

noun

Meaning 1

The common good, as identified with the wider state; the commonwealth, the body politic.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a politically organized body of people under a single government

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the state has elected a new president
  • African nations
  • students who had come to the nation's capitol
  • the country's largest manufacturer
  • an industrialized land

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: state, nation, country, land, commonwealth, body politic

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: political unit, political entity

Narrower terms: commonwealth country, developing country, Dominion, foreign country, Reich, rogue state, renegade state, rogue nation, suzerain, sea power, world power, major power, great power, power, superpower, city state, city-state, ally, Eelam, Tamil Eelam

History

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin rēs pūblica. Doublet of republic.