Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

confederative

American  
[kuhn-fed-uh-rey-tiv, -er-uh-tiv, -fed-ruh-] / kənˈfɛd əˌreɪ tɪv, -ər ə tɪv, -ˈfɛd rə- /

adjective

  1. pertaining to or characteristic of a confederation.


Other Word Forms

  • anticonfederative adjective

Etymology

Origin of confederative

First recorded in 1810–20; confederate + -ive

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And the round-table discussions last Thursday between party officials and opposition figures produced a call for a "new relationship" with West Germany based on "confederative structures."

From Time Magazine Archive

To allay fears that Gorbachev might be acting as his front man for a resurgent Russia, Yeltsin promised that his gargantuan republic would not dominate any confederative structure.

From Time Magazine Archive

Will there continue to be a need for a confederative President?

From Time Magazine Archive

His arguments for what he calls a "confederative union state" sound increasingly irrelevant, as the former Soviet republics move further apart with growing speed in establishing their political and economic independence.

From Time Magazine Archive

In default of a confederative system, the several States were held in equilibrium by diplomacy.

From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, Second Series by Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes