Com*mu"ni*ty (?), n.; pl. Communities (#). [L. communitas: cf. OF. communitÚ. Cf. Commonalty, and see Common.] 1. Common possession or enjoyment; participation; as, a community of goods.
The original community of all things.
Locke.
An unreserved community of thought and feeling.
W. Irving.
2. A body of people having common rights, privileges, or interests, or living in the same place under the same laws and regulations; as, a community of monks. Hence a number of animals living in a common home or with some apparent association of interests.
Creatures that in communities exist.
Wordsworth.
3. Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic; the public, or people in general.
Burdens upon the poorer classes of the community.
Hallam.
&fist; In this sense, the term should be used with the definite article; as, the interests of the community.