Meanings
plural tragedies of the commons
- social criticismbiologyA situation in which unmanaged use of a shared resource (such as the atmosphere or an ocean) by a number of participants results in the unintended ruin or total consumption of that resource.
One theory, known as the tragedy of the commons, holds that people will exploit and abuse something in which they have no ownership stake.
1995 May 7, Timothy Egan, “Let the Owner Beware”, in New York Times, retrieved 04 Jul 20122 more examples
Overfishing is the classic tragedy of the commons. Since no single nation "owns" the high seas, they exploit it without restraint and without thought to sustainability.
2010 November 18, “Troubles as deep as the oceans lie ahead”, in The Independent, UK, retrieved 04 Jul 2012The economist Elinor Ostrom, who is on our list this year, has written about the tragedy of the commons, which is the idea that self-interest can undermine the common good.
2012 April 18, Richard Stengel, “Editor's Letter: A World of Possibilities”, in Time, archived from the original on 04 Feb 2013
Origin
Coined by American ecologist Garrett Hardin in 1968.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 公地悲劇 /公地悲剧
- 公地悲劇 /公地悲剧 (gōngdì bēijù)tragedy of the commons
Dutch tragedie van de meent
- tragedie van de meenttragedy of the commons
Finnish yhteismaan ongelma
- yhteismaan ongelmatragedy of the commons
French tragédie des biens communs
- tragédie des biens communstragedy of the commons
German Tragik der Allmende (obsolet: Allmende), Tragödie des Allgemeinguts
- Tragik der Allmende (obsolet: Allmende)tragedy of the commons
- Tragödie des Allgemeingutstragedy of the commons
- Tragik des Gemeingutstragedy of the commons
Italian tragedia dei beni comuni
- tragedia dei beni comunitragedy of the commons
Lithuanian bendruomenių tragedija
- bendruomenių tragedijatragedy of the commons
Polish tragedia wspólnego pastwiska
- tragedia wspólnego pastwiskatragedy of the commons
Russian трагедия общих ресурсов, трагедия общин
- трагедия общих ресурсов (tragedija obščix resursov)tragedy of the commons
- трагедия общин (tragedija obščin)tragedy of the commons
Spanish tragedia de los bienes comunales
- tragedia de los bienes comunalestragedy of the commons
Swedish allmänningens dilemma, allmänningarnas tragedi
- allmänningens dilemmatragedy of the commons
- allmänningarnas trageditragedy of the commons
Cite this entry
tragedy of the commons. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tragedy%20of%20the%20commons
“tragedy of the commons.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tragedy%20of%20the%20commons. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tragedy of the commons,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tragedy%20of%20the%20commons.
Source: tragedy of the commons on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.