shared by, or for the use of, a number of people, especially people who live together （尤指居住在一起的人）共享的，共有的，共用的 a communal kitchen/garden, etc. 共用的厨房、花园等 As a student he tried communal living for a few years. 当学生时他尝试过几年集体生活。
Extra ExamplesTopics Houses and homesb2He led me down the corridor to the communal kitchen. 他带我走过通往共用厨房的过道。 The gardens surrounding the building were communal. 大楼周围的花园是公共的。 Water is fetched daily from a communal tap in the centre of the village. 每天从村中心的公共水龙头取水。
involving different groups of people in a community （集体中）不同群体的，各团体的 communal violence between religious groups 不同教派之间的暴力冲突
Word Originearly 19th cent. (in the sense ‘relating to a commune, especially the Paris Commune’): from French, from late Latin communalis, from communis ‘common’.