citizen
Pluralcitizens
- 1A person who legally belongs to a country and has its rights and duties.
Like being an official member of a club, with both rules to follow and benefits to enjoy.
Every citizen has the right to vote when they turn eighteen.
He became a citizen of his new country after living there for five years.
UsageSay a citizen of Japan or a Japanese citizen. Being one is called citizenship.
Similarnational, countryman
Note
- 2Someone who lives in a city, town, or other place.
Every citizen of the town came out to watch the parade.
The citizens worked together to clean up the riverside park.
UsageSay the citizens of a town. Residents means nearly the same.
Note
- 3An ordinary person who is not a soldier or a police officer.
The police asked the citizens to clear the road.
An ordinary citizen called for help when she saw the fire.
UsageOften in an ordinary citizen or a private citizen.
Similarcivilian
Less common meanings
- 4A title used by supporters of the French Revolution, and later by socialists and communists, when addressing each other.
'Good day, citizen,' the baker said to each customer in revolutionary Paris.
Citizen, I desire nothing more than to get to Paris, though I could dispense with the escort.
1859, Charles Dickens, “In Secret”Here, Citizen is a way of addressing someone, used by supporters of the revolution.Similarcomrade
Note
- 5A person who belongs to God's kingdom, a Christian.
The preacher called every believer a citizen of heaven.
She tried to live each day as a faithful citizen of God's kingdom.
Note
- 6A middle-class town person, not a noble and not a poor laborer.
[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, CeciliaHere, citizen means an ordinary townsperson, below the nobles and the landowners.Note
- 7An object or program imagined as living inside a software system.
Practice
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Origin
It came from Old French through Anglo-Norman, based on the word cité meaning 'city'. So a citizen was a city-dweller.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Citizen came from Old French through Anglo-Norman. fr.wiktionary.org
- Its formation is based on cité, meaning city. en.wiktionary.org
- The historical word denoted a city-dweller. en.wiktionary.org