res publica

From Latin rēs pūblica. Doublet of republic.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹeɪz ˈpʊblɪkə/

res publica (uncountable)

1. The common good, as identified with the wider state; the commonwealth, the body politic.
   • 1997, Herwig Wolfram, The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples, page 190:

     At the same time the Roman-barbarian regna distinguished themselves from the res publica.

   • 2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 402:

     There was no question as yet of republicanism being on the agenda, other than in the old, weak sense of a res publica or commonwealth to which both ruler and ruled owed allegiance.

rēs pūblica f (genitive reī pūblicae); fifth declension

1. Alternative form of rēspūblica

Fifth-declension noun with a first-declension adjective.