community

Less common meanings

5. 5
   ecologynouncountable

   In ecology, the populations of different organisms that share an area and interact with and depend on one another.

   Ecologists surveyed the forest community to track changes in species diversity.

   Removing a top predator can reshape entire communities.

   Note

   Ecology's technical term and the unit that synecology studies. G. E. Hutchinson and E. S. Deevey (1949) put it plainly: synecology looks not at individual organisms but at biological communities, groups living in a given space whose properties select which organisms belong. Unlike the human sense, membership is set by shared place and interaction, not shared traits. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Ecological communities are the subject of synecology. digitaleditions.library.dal.ca
   • Hutchinson and Deevey gave this account of biological communities in 1949. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   nounobsoletecountable

   Shared enjoyment or possession of something; participation in it together.

   Besides, you are depriving yourself of the comforts of her sympathy; and not merely that, but also endangering the only bond that can keep hearts together—an unreserved community of thought and feeling.

   1819, [Washington Irving], “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. No. III. The Wife.”

   a community of goods

7. 7
   common qualitynounobsoleteuncountable

   Common character; the quality of likeness between persons or things.

   Note

   Another obsolete use built on community of, close kin to shared possession. Herbert Spencer's The Principles of Biology (1864) argues for "the essential community of nature between organic growth and inorganic growth." The difference is that nothing is owned or enjoyed together. The two things simply share a character, as like things do. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Herbert Spencer wrote The Principles of Biology and used the quoted wording there. gutenberg.org
   • The first book edition of volume I of The Principles of Biology appeared in 1864. gutenberg.org
   • In Spencer's passage, community denotes similarity of nature rather than joint possession or enjoyment. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   commonnessnounobsoleteuncountable

   Commonness; the quality of being frequent or widespread.

   So when he had occaſion to be ſeene, / He was but as the Cuckoe is in Iune, / Heard, not regarded: Seene, but with ſuch eie / As ſicke and blunted with communitie, / Affoord no extraordinary gaze.

   c. 1597, [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth

   Note

   Shakespeare gives this obsolete sense its memorable line in Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1597): a man seen too often is looked at "with such eies / As sicke and blunted with communitie." Community here is overexposure, the state of being common and frequent, and it dulls attention. In early modern verse, do not mistake it for a group of people. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • William Shakespeare wrote Henry IV, Part 1. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • The play can be dated approximately 1597 by composition or first performance. rsc.org.uk
   • The 1598 quarto reads “with such eies / As sicke and blunted with communitie”. King Henry IV speaks the passage about Richard II in Act III, scene ii. Wiktionary's singular “eie” differs from the primary text. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • Community has an obsolete sense meaning commonness or frequency. en.wiktionary.org
   • The passage describes frequent exposure dulling attention. gutenberg.org
   • Community in this passage means commonness or frequency rather than a group of people. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounWales

   A local area forming the lowest tier of local government, usually run by a community or town council and broadly equivalent to a civil parish in England.