COMMUNE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does commune mean? 

• COMMUNE (noun)
  The noun COMMUNE has 2 senses:

1. the smallest administrative district of several European countries

2. a body of people or families living together and sharing everything

  Familiarity information: COMMUNE used as a noun is rare.

• COMMUNE (verb)
  The verb COMMUNE has 2 senses:

1. communicate intimately with; be in a state of heightened, intimate receptivity

2. receive Communion, in the Catholic church

  Familiarity information: COMMUNE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMUNE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The smallest administrative district of several European countries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("commune" is a kind of...):

administrative district; administrative division; territorial division (a district defined for administrative purposes)

Domain region:

Italia; Italian Republic; Italy (a republic in southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD)

Belgique; Belgium; Kingdom of Belgium (a monarchy in northwestern Europe; headquarters for the European Union and for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

France; French Republic (a republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in Europe)

Schweiz; Suisse; Svizzera; Swiss Confederation; Switzerland (a landlocked federal republic in central Europe)

Derivation:

communise (make into property owned by the state)

communise (make Communist or bring in accord with Communist principles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A body of people or families living together and sharing everything

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("commune" is a kind of...):

assemblage; gathering (a group of persons together in one place)

Derivation:

communise (make into property owned by the state)

communise (make Communist or bring in accord with Communist principles)

• COMMUNE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they commune    ... he / she / it communes   
Past simple: communed   
Past participle: communed   
-ing form: communing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Communicate intimately with; be in a state of heightened, intimate receptivity

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

He seemed to commune with nature

Hypernyms (to "commune" is one way to...):

communicate; intercommunicate (transmit thoughts or feelings)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commune"):

pray (address a deity, a prophet, a saint or an object of worship; say a prayer)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

communion (sharing thoughts and feelings)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Receive Communion, in the Catholic church

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

commune; communicate

Hypernyms (to "commune" is one way to...):

covenant (enter into a covenant or formal agreement)

Verb group:

communicate (administer Communion; in church)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

Communion (the act of participating in the celebration of the Eucharist)

 Context examples 

Residents, communes etc call for them.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

"Poor Briss," Martin communed; "he would never have forgiven me."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The researchers used satellite images to determine changes in vegetation, and in the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in different areas of a small city in El Cerrado the commune Aguas de Santa Barbara.

(Fire control harms biodiversity in Brazilian savannah, SciDev.Net)

I avoided the recognition of this feeling by any name, or by any communing with myself; until one night, when it was very strong upon me, and my aunt had left her with a parting cry of Good night, Little Blossom, I sat down at my desk alone, and tried to think, Oh what a fatal name it was, and how the blossom withered in its bloom upon the tree!

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Always, at sea, except at rare intervals, the work he performed had given him ample opportunity to commune with himself.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Martin Eden," he communed. "You're not a brute, and you're a damn poor Nietzscheman. You'd marry her if you could and fill her quivering heart full with happiness. But you can't, you can't. And it's a damn shame."

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)