Definition of "res publica"

res publica

/ɹeɪz ˈpʊblɪkə/

noun
uncountable
1. The common good, as identified with the wider state; the commonwealth, the body politic.
  Quotations
  At the same time the Roman-barbarian regna distinguished themselves from the res publica.
  1997, Herwig Wolfram, The Roman Empire and its Germanic Peoples, page 190
  There was no question as yet of republicanism being on the agenda, other than in the old, weak sense of a res publica or commonwealth to which both ruler and ruled owed allegiance.
  2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 402