Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, relating to, or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state.
  • adjective Relating to, involving, or characteristic of political parties or politicians.
  • adjective Interested or active in politics.
  • adjective Influenced by, based on, or stemming from partisan interests or political ideology.
  • adjective Based on or motivated by self-serving interests, especially in attempting to gain power or to please people of a higher rank in an organization.
  • adjective Indicating national or regional boundaries. Used of maps.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Relating or pertaining to politics, or the science of government; treating of polity or government: as, political authors.
  • Possessing a definite polity or system of government; administering a definite polity.
  • Relating to or concerned in public policy and the management of the affairs of the state or nation; of or pertaining to civil government, or the enactment of laws and the administration of civil affairs: as, political action; political rights; a political system; political parties; a political officer.
  • Politic; sagacious; prudent; artful; skilful.
  • “A captain bold of Halifax, who lived in country quarters.”
  • This is the favorite meter in modern Greek poetry.
  • Political in this connection means ‘common,’ ‘usual,’ ‘ordinary’.
  • Synonyms See politic.
  • noun A political officer or agent, as distinguished from military, commercial, and diplomatic officers or agents; specifically, in India, an officer of the British government who deals with native states or tribes and directs their political affairs.
  • noun A political offender or prisoner.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective rare Having, or conforming to, a settled system of administration.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to public policy, or to politics; relating to affairs of state or administration.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a party, or to parties, in the state.
  • adjective obsolete Politic; wise; also, artful.
  • adjective that branch of political science or philosophy which treats of the sources, and methods of production and preservation, of the material wealth and prosperity of nations.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Concerning or relating to politics, the art and process of governing.
  • adjective Concerning a polity or its administrative components.
  • adjective pejorative Motivated, especially inappropriately, by political (electoral or other party political) calculation.
  • adjective Of or relating to views about social relationships that involve power or authority.
  • adjective of a person Interested in politics.
  • noun A political agent or officer.
  • noun a publication centred around politics

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to your views about social relationships involving authority or power
  • adjective involving or characteristic of politics or parties or politicians
  • adjective of or relating to the profession of governing

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin politicus, ultimately from Greco-Latin polis '(city) state'

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word political.

Examples

  • The * political* reality (as Dean well knows, and the media and bloggers should point out) is that as electeds and political animals (though, it must be said, fearful ones it appears) supers are very, very, very unlikely to overturn the leader in pledged delegates.

    Dean: Super-Delegates Don't Have To Follow The Voters 2009

  • Promoted to Headline (H3) on 4/10/09: Dear President Obama, 3 federal judges say you must act to end 'political purgatory' for 23 million yahooBuzzArticleHeadline = 'Dear President Obama, 3 federal judges say you must act to end \'political purgatory\' for 23 million '; yahooBuzzArticleSummary =' Article: The District of Columbia U.S.

    Dear President Obama, 3 federal judges say you must act to end 'political purgatory' for 23 million 2009

  • The fundamental principle of our political fabric, the _political_ equality of all men, has afforded ample opportunity for designing persons to mislead the uninformed among the mass, and to make them believe that _political_ equality means social, intellectual, and moral equality, that all are in fact equal in all respects in society, and that their rights are infringed by their exclusion from such recognition.

    Continental Monthly, Vol. 4, No 3, September 1863 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various

  • If he predicted a revolutionary crisis, it was to come from a life-and-death struggle of the working people in self-defense, in a desperate effort to protect economic and political rights, but especially _political_ rights, which, as the labor unionist, von Elm, said at this congress, were "the key to all."

    Socialism As It Is A Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement William English Walling

  • With regard to the political and metaphysical parts, I am afraid I can alter nothing; but I have high authority for my errors in that point, for even the _Æneid_ was a _political_ poem, and written for

    Life of Lord Byron, Vol. 2 (of 6) With His Letters and Journals Thomas Moore 1815

  • I answer, it has nothing to do with my Memoirs, as I was not in London during the whole of the row; but I shall by and by show, that it had a great deal more to do with political matters, or rather with a _political party, _ than was at the time imagined, or than is even now suspected.

    Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. — Volume 2 Henry Hunt 1804

  • The political crisis is about the accountability of ­political power.

    Politics news, UK and world political comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk David Miliband 2009

  • Nothing political -- nothing _political_! "he exclaimed.

    Villa Elsa A Story of German Family Life Stuart Oliver Henry 1906

  • For some, the label "political activist" seems too technical to describe how they're learning to balance being Muslim wives and mothers along with their desire to shape Egypt's future.

    Forbes.com: News Stephanie Dahle 2011

  • FDRbyGodDemocrat: Did Karl Rove just use the term "political minions"?

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post 2012

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.