cit·i·zen   (sĭt'ĭ-zən)    n.   A person owing loyalty to and entitled by birth or naturalization to the protection of a state or nation. A resident of a city or town, especially one entitled to vote and enjoy other privileges there. A civilian. A native, inhabitant, or denizen of a particular place: "We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community" (Franklin D. Roosevelt). [Middle English citisein, from Anglo-Norman citesein, alteration (perhaps influenced by dainzain, denizen) of Old French citeain, from cite, city; see city.] cit'i·zen·ly adj. Synonyms: These nouns denote a person owing allegiance to a nation or state and entitled to its protection: an American citizen; a British national; a French subject.

Citizen

Cit"i*zen\, n. [OE. citisein, OF. citeain, F. citoyen, fr. cit['e] city. See City, and cf. Cit.]

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.

Note: 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.

citizen 

Main Entry: cit·i·zen
Function: noun
Etymology: Anglo-French citezein, alteration of Old French citeien, from cité city
1 : a native or naturalized individual who owes allegiance to a government (as of a state or nation) and is entitled to the enjoyment of governmental protection and to the exercise of civil rights —see also Scott v. Sandford in the IMPORTANT CASES section amendment xiv to the CONSTITUTION in the back matter —compare RESIDENT
NOTE: Under the Fourteenth Amendment, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” A person born outside of the U.S. to parents who were born or naturalized in the U.S. is also a citizen of the U.S. A corporation is not considered a citizen for purposes of the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A corporation is, however, deemed a citizen of the state in which it is incorporated or has its principal place of business for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
2 : a resident of a town or state who is also a U.S. native or was naturalized in the U.S.