for or by a group rather than individuals; "dipping each his bread into a communal dish of stew"- Paul Roche; "a communal settlement in which all earnings and food were shared"; "a group effort"
relating to a small administrative district or community; "communal elections in several European countries"
one of the eight sayings of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; in Latin each saying begins with `beatus' (blessed); "her favorite Beatitude is `Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth'"
(used to introduce a logical conclusion) from that fact or reason or as a result; "therefore X must be true"; "the eggs were fresh and hence satisfactory"; "we were young and thence optimistic"; "it is late and thus we must go"; "the witness is biased and so cannot be trusted"
(law) an explanation of the fundamental reasons (especially an explanation of the working of some device in terms of laws of nature); "the rationale for capital punishment"; "the principles of internal-combustion engines"