polity

American  

[pol-i-tee] / ˈpɒl ɪ ti /

noun

plural

polities

1. a particular form or system of government.

   civil polity; ecclesiastical polity.

2. the condition of being constituted as a state or other organized community or body.

   The polity of ancient Athens became a standard for later governments.

3. government or administrative regulation.

   The colonists demanded independence in matters of internal polity.

4. a state or other organized community or body.

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polity British  

/ ˈpɒlɪtɪ /

noun

1. a form of government or organization of a state, church, society, etc; constitution

2. a politically organized society, state, city, etc

3. the management of public or civil affairs

4. political organization

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Etymology

Origin of polity

1530–40; < Latin polītīa < Greek polīteía citizenship, government, form of government, commonwealth, equivalent to polī́te-, variant stem of polī́tēs citizen ( polis, -ite ¹ ) + -ia -ia

Example Sentences

The Anglo-Scottish union of 1707 created the new polity of Great Britain and set it on course to become a globally dominant power.

From The Wall Street Journal

“By the time the Scramble for Africa was over,” Martin Meredith tells us, the vagaries of geopolitical geometry had amalgamated “some 10,000 African polities . . . into forty European colonies and protectorates.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Sports, at its finest, can act as a cultural common denominator for our ever-fractious and divided polity.

From Los Angeles Times

Inertia is the easiest and most likely choice in any polity, and sometimes not even a crisis is enough to dislodge a dysfunctional status quo.

From The Wall Street Journal

The “resource curse” might well upend their newly independent polity as it has others.

From The Wall Street Journal