Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The form of government of a nation, state, church, or organization.
- noun An organized society, such as a nation, having a specific form of government.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Government; form, system, or method of government: as, civil polity; ecclesiastical polity.
- noun Any body of persons forming a community governed according to a recognized system of government.
- noun Policy; art; management; scheme.
- noun Synonyms See
policy .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The form or constitution of the civil government of a nation or state; the framework or organization by which the various departments of government are combined into a systematic whole.
- noun Hence: The form or constitution by which any institution is organized; the recognized principles which lie at the foundation of any human institution.
- noun obsolete Policy; art; management.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
organizational structure of thegovernment of a state, church, etc. - noun A
politically organized unit; astate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun shrewd or crafty management of public affairs
- noun the form of government of a social organization
- noun a politically organized unit
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The polity is likewise that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the chief difference being the provision for a general convention as a constitutional lawmaking body, to be called only when there is under consideration a change in polity or name.
Religious Bodies: 1906 United States. Bureau of the Census. 1906
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Now he is desirous to have his whole plan of government neither a democracy nor an oligarchy, but something between both, which he calls a polity, for it is to be composed of men-at-arms.
Politics: A Treatise on Government 384 BC-322 BC Aristotle
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The very nature of our polity is based on balancing various sectional interests (Dairy = Wisconsin, California, New England and upstate N. York, etc.) against others.
Matthew Yglesias » School Lunch Or; How to Make Government Work 2009
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His Luddite attitudes were and are not very consequential in most Indian discussions because the polity is more concerned today with rent-seeking than with issues arising from the impact of Machinery.
Foreign Aid and Growth, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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Some say its special polity comes from the huge reservoirs that collect the water in Upstate New York.
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My vision of a successful modern polity is something more akin to Orange County.
Matthew Yglesias » Europe: A Continent Full of Lovely Countries 2009
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In fact, the use Lady Liberty, as a way of expressing both political identity but also commitment to the polity, is a powerful motif thats repeated again and again across the United States in the 19th century.
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Our polity is predicated on an educated electorate.
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Since Baptists are congregational in polity you never quite know what to expect from one church to another
Amazing Thread v.2.0 2009
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In fact, the use Lady Liberty, as a way of expressing both political identity but also commitment to the polity, is a powerful motif thats repeated again and again across the United States in the 19th century.
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