citizen Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community

WordNet


Cit"i*zen noun
Etymology
OE. citisein, OF. citeain, F. citoyen, fr. cité city. See City, and cf. Cit.
Definitions
  1. 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.
    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. G. Eliot.
  2. An inhabitant of a city; a townsman. Shak.
  3. A person, native or naturalized, of either sex, who owes allegiance to a government, and is entitled to reciprocal protection from it. ✍ 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
  4. 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.
Cit"i*zen adjective
Definitions
  1. Having the condition or qualities of a citizen, or of citizens; as, a citizen soldiery.
  2. Of or pertaining to the inhabitants of a city; characteristic of citizens; effeminate; luxurious. Obs.
    I am not well, But not so citizen a wanton as To seem to die ere sick. Shak.

Webster 1913