1a group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities.
a communal settlement in a communist country.
2the smallest French territorial division for administrative purposes.
a territorial division similar to a French commune in other countries.
3 (the Commune) the group that seized the municipal government of Paris in the French Revolution and played a leading part in the Reign of Terror until suppressed in 1794.
(also the Paris Commune) the municipal government organized on communalistic principles elected in Paris in 1871. It was soon brutally suppressed by government troops.
Origin:
late 17th century(1sense 2): from French, from medieval Latin communia, neuter plural of Latin communis(see common)
