citizen

Less common meanings

4. 4
   revolutionary titlenounhistoricalcountable

   A form of address used among supporters of the French Revolution, and later, in dated use, among socialists and communists.

   Citizen Lefèvre, the committee requests your testimony at once.

   Citizen, I desire nothing more than to get to Paris, though I could dispense with the escort.

   1859, Charles Dickens, “In Secret”

   Similarcomrade

   Note

   Revolutionary France turned the word into a title of equality. It was usually capitalized and used alone in direct address or before a name. In Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities (1859), a traveler under escort says, "Citizen, I desire nothing more than to get to Paris." Socialists and communists later took it up, alongside comrade. Both uses are now historical or dated. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • French revolutionaries used citizen as an egalitarian title. en.wikipedia.org
   • This form of address was usually capitalized. en.wiktionary.org
   • Citizen could appear alone in direct address or before a name. gutenberg.org
   • Charles Dickens wrote A Tale of Two Cities, first published in 1859. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted words accurately excerpt Charles Darnay's reply when an escort to Paris is imposed on him; the original sentence continues after Paris. dickens.stanford.edu
   • Socialists and communists later used citizen as a form of address, alongside comrade. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   Christiannouncountable

   A Christian, sometimes specifically a good Christian, regarded as an inhabitant of the heavenly city or, in later usage, God's kingdom.

   The sermon reminded the congregation that they were citizens of the heavenly city.

   He spoke of the late bishop as a true citizen of God's kingdom.

   Note

   Christian writing borrows the language of civic belonging here: the believer is enrolled in a city not built on earth. The image begins with the heavenly city and later widens to the kingdom of God, echoing the earthly step from town resident to member of a state. It usually takes an of-phrase naming that place, and with praise (a true citizen) it marks a good Christian rather than merely a Christian. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Christian writing portrays believers as belonging to a heavenly city and being enrolled in heaven. en.wikisource.org
   • The heavenly city is represented as God's construction rather than an earthly city. en.wikisource.org
   • The religious meaning refers initially to the heavenly city and later to God's kingdom. en.wiktionary.org
   • The earthly meanings developed from town inhabitant to member of a state. en.wiktionary.org
   • The religious sense can specifically denote a good Christian. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   nounobsolete

   An ordinary townsperson ranking below the nobility and landed gentry but above peasants, craftsmen, and laborers.

   [W]ould Mr. Delvile, who hardly ever spoke but to the high-born, without seeming to think his dignity somewhat injured, deign to receive for a daughter in law the child of a citizen and tradesman?

   1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia

   Note

   In older fiction the word marks a rank, not a nationality. In Frances Burney's Cecilia (1782), it is doubted that the proud Mr. Delvile would accept "the child of a citizen and tradesman" as a daughter-in-law, and the bar is social. A citizen sat between the gentry and the laborers, respectable but not genteel. The sense is obsolete, so use it only when writing about that period or in its manner. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Frances Burney wrote Cecilia, first published in 1782. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quotation is exact; the narrative questions whether the socially proud Mr Delvile would accept a tradesman's daughter as his daughter-in-law. gutenberg.org
   • This historical sense denotes a social category below the nobility and landed gentry and above peasants, craftsmen, and laborers. en.wiktionary.org
   • The description of citizens as respectable but below genteel rank accords with the novel's treatment of their social standing. gutenberg.org
   • The social-rank sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   noun

   A notional inhabitant of a software system; an object or software application treated as a resident of that system.