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REFERENCE

citizen

n.
US //ˈsɪtəzən// UK //sˈɪtɪzən// cit·i·zen
  1. 1 legal member of a country (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Law

    a person who is a legal member of a country and has rights like voting.

    a legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native or naturalized.

    Example

    After living in the country for ten years, she finally became a citizen.

    Example

    The constitution guarantees that every citizen has the right to a fair trial and the freedom to participate in democratic elections.
  2. 2 resident of a city (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    someone who lives in a particular town or city.

    an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to the rights and privileges of a free person in that municipality.

    Example

    The mayor asked the citizens of the town to help keep the parks clean.

    Example

    The local council held a public forum to address the concerns of the citizens regarding the proposed redevelopment of the historic district.
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  1. 3 a civilian (n.)
    C1 Advanced Formal

    a person who is not in the police or the military.

    a member of the general public as distinguished from specialized state groups such as the military or police force.

    Example

    The police officer was praised for his polite treatment of the citizen.

    Example

    The report highlighted the importance of maintaining a clear distinction between military operations and the rights of the private citizen.
  2. 4 software entity (n.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

    a piece of software or data that is treated as a full member of a system.

    an entity within a software environment, such as an object or application, that is granted full rights and capabilities within that system.

    Example

    In this programming language, functions are treated as first-class citizens.

    Example

    By treating asynchronous tasks as first-class citizens, the framework allows developers to manage complex operations with minimal boilerplate code.

    Usage

    Often used in the phrase 'first-class citizen' to describe data types that can be passed as arguments.
Origin

From Middle English citeseyn, citezein, borrowed from Anglo-Norman citesain (“burgher; city-dweller”), citezein, etc., probably a variant of cithein under influence of deinzein (“denizen”), from Anglo-Norman and Old French citeain, etc. and citaien, citeien, etc. ("burgher"; modern French citoyen), from cité ("settlement; cathedral city, city"; modern French cité) + -ain or -ien (“-an, -ian”). See city and hewe.

Word family

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