Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation.
- noun A resident of a city or town, especially one entitled to vote and enjoy other privileges there.
- noun A civilian.
- noun A native, inhabitant, or denizen of a particular place.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A native of a city or town, or one who enjoys the freedom and privileges of the city or town in which he resides; a freeman of a city or town, as distinguished from a foreigner or one not entitled to its franchises.
- noun Any inhabitant of a city or town, as opposed to an inhabitant of a rural district; a townsman.
- noun In a restricted sense, a person engaged in trade, as opposed to a person of birth and breeding.
- noun A member of the state or nation; one bound to the state by the reciprocal obligation of allegiance on the one hand and protection on the other.
- noun A private person, as opposed to a civil official or a soldier: as, a police officer in citizen's dress.
- Having the qualities of a citizen; town-bred; effeminate.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Having the condition or qualities of a citizen, or of citizens.
- adjective obsolete Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a city; characteristic of citizens; effeminate; luxurious.
- noun 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.
- noun An inhabitant of a city; a townsman.
- noun A person, native or naturalized, of either sex, who owes allegiance to a government, and is entitled to reciprocal protection from it.
- noun 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.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A person that is legally recognized as a
member of astate , with associated rights and obligations. - noun dated A member of a state that is not a
monarchy ; used as antonym tosubject . - noun A person that is a legally recognized
resident of acity or town. - noun A
resident of any particular place to which the subject feels to belong. - noun A
civilian , as opposed to a soldier, police officer etc.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word citizen.
Examples
-
The court say that, "to be a citizen it is necessary that he should be entitled to the enjoyment of these privileges and immunities, upon the same terms upon which they are conferred upon other citizens; and unless he is so entitled, _he cannot, in the proper sense of the term, be a citizen_."
An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting Anonymous
-
This decision of the Supreme Court on the plea in abatement that the plaintiff (a Negro, Dred Scott) was not a citizen in the sense of the word in Article iii, Sec. 2 of the Constitution, was based upon an erroneous idea respecting the location of the word _citizen_ in the instrument.
History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens George Washington Williams
-
In 1865 the legislature discriminated against women by the passage of a very long act, prescribing the manner in which enumerations of _white male citizens_ shall be made; thus implying that a _white male citizen_ is an honorable and important person, whose existence is to be noted with due care; with a care that distinguishes him equally above the _white female_ and the _black male_ citizen, and in effect places these two unenumerated divisions of human beings into one class.
History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) Matilda Joslyn Gage 1862
-
The term "citizen journalism" has gained much attention since Twitter went live in 2006.
-
As Jeff says, the term citizen journalism has created an artificial divide that has hampered collaboration between traditional journalists and the public.
-
“If you go to NowPublic, you will never ever see the term citizen journalism mentioned,” said Brody.
It’s Not Citizen Journalism Or Crowdsourcing – It’s Just Journalism - Publishing 2.0 2007
-
"The term citizen is a legal one," Herbert pointed out.
Mission Of Honor Clancy, Tom 2002
-
The Americans do not plume themselves on the title citizen, but they work; they dispute little about words, but clear their lands; they do not talk of exterminating anybody, but they cover the sea with their ships, they construct immense canals, roads and steamers without jabbering at every stroke of the spade about the rights of man.
Edmond Dantès Edmund Flagg
-
Similar references might be made to an indefinite extent, but enough has been said to show that the term citizen, in the language of Mr. Justice
An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting Anonymous
-
"There is not, it is believed, to be found in the theories of writers on government, or in any actual experiment heretofore tried, an exposition of the term citizen, which has not been considered as conferring the actual possession and enjoyment of the perfect right of acquisition and enjoyment of an entire equality of privileges, civil and political."
An Account of the Proceedings on the Trial of Susan B. Anthony, on the Charge of Illegal Voting Anonymous
asativum commented on the word citizen
Give us your tired,
your poor, your huddled masses?
Well, maybe next year.
"Longer waits to become citizens," The Boston Globe, Jan. 25, 2008
January 26, 2008
sonofgroucho commented on the word citizen
Food for thought:
"Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian."
Robert Orben
January 26, 2008
reesetee commented on the word citizen
Heehee.
January 27, 2008
sionnach commented on the word citizen
Not so heehee, reesetee. Some of us are in that queue to become citizens. The guvmint has taken my money, but my forms have entered the void.
January 27, 2008
reesetee commented on the word citizen
Sorry, sionnach--I was "heeheeing" about SoG's quote. Kind of a kick in the pants, in my opinion. As for the longer waits--no, not funny at all. :-(
January 27, 2008