commune

From Middle English commune, comune, from Old French comune, commune, from Medieval Latin commūnia, from Latin commūne (“community, state”), from commūnis (“common”). Doublet of comune. See also community, communion, common.

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɒmjuːn/
• (US) enPR: käm'yo͞on, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑmjuːn/

• Audio (US):

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commune (countable and uncountable, plural communes)

1. A small community, often rural, whose members share in the ownership of property, and in the division of labour; the members of such a community.
   • 1975, Peter J. Seybolt, editor, The Rustication of Urban Youth in China‎^[1], published 2015, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 148:

     The town of Chu-chou in Hunan Province, carrying out the great directive of Chairman Mao that "educated youths must go to the villages," has put into practice factory-commune links, and under the leadership of cadres, has made a collective settlement of educated youths in commune and brigade farms, forest areas, and tea plantations.

2. A local political division in many European countries as well as their former colonies (such as Chile and Vietnam).
3. (obsolete) The commonalty; the common people.
4. (uncountable, obsolete) Communion; sympathetic conversation between friends.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “(please specify |part=Prologue or Rpilogue, or |canto=I to CXXIX)”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:

     For days of happy commune dead.

5. (historical) A self-governing city or league of citizens.
   • 1997, David Nicholas, The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century, →ISBN, page 161:

     In 1117 the commune and archbishop had separate consuls at Milan.

From Middle English communen, comunen, from Old French comuner (formed from comun (“common”)) and comunier (“to share”) (from Latin commūnico). Doublet of communicate.

• enPR: kəmyo͞on', IPA^(key): /kəˈmjuːn/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -uːn

commune (third-person singular simple present communes, present participle communing, simple past and past participle communed)

1. To converse together with sympathy and confidence; to interchange sentiments or feelings; to take counsel.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     I would commune with you of such things / That want no ear but yours.

2. (intransitive, followed by with) To communicate (with) spiritually; to be together (with); to contemplate or absorb.

   He spent a week in the backcountry, communing with nature.

3. (Christianity, intransitive) To receive the communion.
   • 1681, Gilbert Burnet, “[A Collection of Records, and Original Papers; with Other Instruments Referred to in the Second Part of the History of the Reformation of the Church of England.] Book I.”, in The History of the Reformation of the Church of England. The Second Part, […], London: […] T[homas] H[odgkin] for Richard Chiswell, […], →OCLC, page 207:

     Namely, in these things, in prohibiting that none should commune alone, in making the People whole Communers, or in suffering them to Commune under both kinds […]

From Middle Dutch commune, from Old French commune, from Latin communia.

• IPA^(key): /ˌkɔˈmynə/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: com‧mu‧ne
• Rhymes: -ynə

commune f (plural communes, diminutive communetje n)

1. a commune (community living together with common property)

• → Indonesian: komune

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.myn/

• Audio:

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Borrowed from Medieval Latin communia, neuter plural of communis.

commune f (plural communes)

1. commune (administrative subdivision)
2. commune (community living together with common property)
   • 1967 [1881 March 8], Roger Dangeville, quoting Karl Marx, “Lettres de Marx à Véra Zassoulitch”, in L'homme et la société, number 5, page 179; English translation from “Marx to Vera Zasulich”, in Marx/Engels Collected Works, volume 46, 1992, pages 71-72:

     L’analyse donnée dans le «Capital» n’offre donc de raisons ni pour ni contre la vitalité de la commune rurale, mais l’étude spéciale que j’en ai faite, et dont j’ai cherché les matériaux dans les sources originales, m’a convaincu que cette commune est le point d’appui de la régénération sociale en Russie; mais afin qu’elle puisse fonctionner comme tel, il faudrait d’abord éliminer les influences délétères qui l’assaillent de tous les côtés et ensuite lui assurer les conditions normales d’un développement spontané.

     Hence the analysis provided in Capital does not adduce reasons either for or against the viability of the rural commune, but the special study I have made of it, and the material for which I drew from original sources, has convinced me that this commune is the fulcrum of social regeneration in Russia, but in order that it may function as such, it would first be necessary to eliminate the deleterious influences which are assailing it from all sides, and then ensure for it the normal conditions of spontaneous development.

commune

1. feminine singular of commun

• “commune”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

commune m or f (plural communi)

1. (obsolete) alternative form of comune

commune m (plural communi)

1. (obsolete) alternative form of comune

• communità

commūne n (genitive commūnis); third declension

1. joint, common or public property and rights
2. public places and interests
3. common feature, characteristic, general rule or terms
4. general
5. (Medieval Latin) league or corporation of citizens
6. (Medieval Latin) a universal tax

Third-declension noun (neuter, pure i-stem).

commūne

1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular of commūnis

• “commune”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “commune”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "commune", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• commune in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) we know from experience: usu rerum (vitae, vitae communis) edocti sumus
    
  • (ambiguous) unanimously: uno, communi, summo or omnium consensu (Tusc. 1. 15. 35)
    
  • (ambiguous) the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: communis sermonis consuetudo
    
  • (ambiguous) to be always considering what people think: multum communi hominum opinioni tribuere
    
• Online Latin dictionary, Olivetti

commune

1. commons; citizenry
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Clerk's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 69-70:

     [...] Biloved and drad, thurgh favour of fortune,
     Bothe of his lordes and of his commune.

     [...] Beloved and feared, through favor of fortune,
     Both by his lords and by his citizenry.

commune

1. alternative form of comun