Word Study
citizen
CIDE DICTIONARY
- One who enjoys the freedom and privileges of a city; a freeman of a city, as distinguished from a foreigner, or one not entitled to its franchises. [1913 Webster]"That large body of the working men who were not counted as citizens and had not so much as a vote to serve as an anodyne to their stomachs." [1913 Webster]
- An inhabitant of a city; a townsman. Shak. [1913 Webster]
- A person, native or naturalized, of either sex, who owes allegiance to a government, and is entitled to reciprocal protection from it. [1913 Webster]" This protection is . . . national protection, recognition of the individual, in the face of foreign nations, as a member of the state, and assertion of his security and rights abroad as well as at home." Abbot [1913 Webster]
- One who is domiciled in a country, and who is a citizen, though neither native nor naturalized, in such a sense that he takes his legal status from such country. [1913 Webster]
citizen, a.
- Having the condition or qualities of a citizen, or of citizens; as, a citizen soldiery. [1913 Webster]
- Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a city; characteristic of citizens; effeminate; luxurious. [1913 Webster]"I am not well,
But not so citizen a wanton as
To seem to die ere sick." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
citizen, n.
1 a member of a State or Commonwealth, either native or naturalized (British citizen).
2 (usu. foll. by of) a an inhabitant of a city. b a freeman of a city.
3 US a civilian.
1 a member of a State or Commonwealth, either native or naturalized (British citizen).
2 (usu. foll. by of) a an inhabitant of a city. b a freeman of a city.
3 US a civilian.
Idiom
citizen of the world a person who is at home anywhere; a cosmopolitan. Citizens' Advice Bureau (in the UK) an office at which the public can receive free advice and information on civil matters. citizen's arrest an arrest by an ordinary person without a warrant, allowable in certain cases. citizen's band a system of local intercommunication by individuals on special radio frequencies.
Derivative
citizenhood n. citizenry n. citizenship n.
Etymology
ME f. AF citesein, OF citeain ult. f. L civitas -tatis city: cf. DENIZEN
THESAURUS
citizen
burgess, burgher, citizen by adoption, civilian, cosmopolitan, cosmopolite, deditician, denizen, dweller, franklin, free citizen, freedman, freedwoman, freeman, freewoman, householder, hyphenate, hyphenated American, immigrant, inhabitant, metic, national, native, naturalized citizen, nonbelligerent, noncombatant, nonnative citizen, nonresistant, nonresister, oppidan, ratepayer, resident, subject, taxpayer, towner, townsman, townswoman, villager, voterROGET THESAURUS
citizen
Inhabitant
N inhabitant, resident, residentiary, dweller, indweller, addressee, occupier, occupant, householder, lodger, inmate, tenant, incumbent, sojourner, locum tenens, commorant, settler, squatter, backwoodsman, colonist, islander, denizen, citizen, burgher, oppidan, cockney, cit, townsman, burgess, villager, cottager, cottier, cotter, compatriot, backsettler, boarder, hotel keeper, innkeeper, habitant, paying guest, planter, native, indigene, aborigines, autochthones, Englishman, John Bull, newcomer, aboriginal, American, Caledonian, Cambrian, Canadian, Canuck, downeaster, Scot, Scotchman, Hibernian, Irishman, Welshman, Uncle Sam, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, garrison, crew, population, people, colony, settlement, household, mir, indigenous, native, natal, autochthonal, autochthonous, British, English, American, Canadian, Irish, Scotch, Scottish, Welsh, domestic, domiciliated, domiciled, naturalized, vernacular, domesticated, domiciliary, in the occupation of, garrisoned by, occupied by.For further exploring for "citizen" in Webster Dictionary Online