commune

C2+ Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈkɑmjun/ UK /ˈkɒmjuːn/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a community sharing possessions; also to converse intimately

They left the city to join a farming commune in the hills.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a community sharing... collective communitykibbutzcooperative converse confer

Word family

Derived forms communalcommunard

Related forms common communion communicate community

Etymology

From Old French commune ('free town, community'), from Medieval Latin communia ('community of relations or feelings'), from Latin communis ('common, shared'), from com- ('together') + munus ('duty, office').

communia Late Latin communis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# commune

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈkɑmjun/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈkɒmjuːn/

## Meanings
1. a community sharing possessions; also to converse intimately

## Examples
- They left the city to join a farming commune in the hills.

## Synonyms
- collective
- community
- kibbutz
- cooperative
- converse
- confer

## Derived Forms
- communal
- communard

## Related Forms
- common
- communion
- communicate
- community

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: communia
- Root: communis

## Etymology
From Old French commune ('free town, community'), from Medieval Latin communia ('community of relations or feelings'), from Latin communis ('common, shared'), from com- ('together') + munus ('duty, office').

## AI Etymology
Commune comes from Old French commune ('free town, community'), from Medieval Latin communia ('community of relations or feelings'), from Latin communis ('common, shared'), from com- ('together') + munus ('duty, office'). The historical trail runs through communia in Late Latin and communis in Latin. Morphologically, commune is transparent: it draws on Old French commune ('free town, community'), from Medieval Latin communia ('community of relations or feelings'), from Latin communis ('common, shared'), from com- ('together') + munus ('duty, office'). Used as a noun and verb, commune now means "a community sharing possessions; also to converse intimately", so the present definition can be read against the older forms and meanings. The same lexical family is also visible in derived forms such as communal and communard and related forms such as common, communion, communicate, and community. The result is a borrowed or transmitted form whose modern spelling carries a compact record of its route into English.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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