Dictionary

confederate en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Southern-England) audio
• /kənˈfɛdəɹət/

Etymology

First attested in 1387, in Middle english; inherited from Middle English confederat(e) (“confederated, allied, associated in a plot; united or bound, as in friendship or troth”), borrowed from Late Latin cōnfoederātus perfect passive participle of cōnfoederō, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English. By surface analysis, con- + federate.

Meanings

1. Of, relating to, or united in a confederacy
2. Banded together; allied.
   • All the swords / In Italy, and her confederate arms, / Could not have made this peace. c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
   • Hour after hour, remote from the world's throng, Work, contest, fame, all life's confederate pleas (Can we date this quote?), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Youth's Antiphony, lines 11-12:
3. (archaic, as a participle, obsolete) Confederated.
   • Remember as thou read'ſt, thy promiſe paſt : I do repent me, reade not my name there, My heart is not confederate with my hand. 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 43, column 1:
   • And it was told the house of Dauid, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim: and his heart was moued, and the heart of his people as the trees of the wood are mooued with the wind. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 7:2:

Forms

Deriveds

Confederate flag · nonconfederate · Confederate States of America · Confederate States · confederately · Confederate

Translations (2)

bg конфедеративен (of, relating to, or united in a confederacy) · es confederado (of, relating to, or united in a confederacy)

wikipedia: Early Modern English · wikipedia: Middle english

confederate en · NOUN · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Southern-England) audio
• /kənˈfɛdəɹət/

Etymology

First attested in 1387, in Middle english; inherited from Middle English confederat(e) (“confederated, allied, associated in a plot; united or bound, as in friendship or troth”), borrowed from Late Latin cōnfoederātus perfect passive participle of cōnfoederō, see -ate (adjective-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix). Regular participial usage of the adjective up until Early Modern English. By surface analysis, con- + federate.

Meanings

1. A member of a confederacy.
2. An accomplice in a plot.
   • He found some of his confederates in gaol. 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XXI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
   • By'th'vvay, vve met my vvife, her ſiſter, and a rabble more Of vilde confederates : […] c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 98, column 2:
   • These are replete with references to [...] slaves who typically absconded in well-organized groups, often with a light-skinned confederate who posed as their owner until they reached freedom. 2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Southern Discomfort”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 59:
3. An accomplice in a plot. ▸ An actor who participates in a psychological experiment pretending to be a subject but in actuality working for the researcher.
   • So how do you win the imitation game? “Just be yourself,” a past confederate advises Christian. But what does it mean to “be yourself”? 2011 March 18, David Leavitt, “I Took the Turing Test”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Deriveds

confederatism · Confederate · confederateship

Synonyms

conspirator · stooge · ally · conspirator

Translations (17)

hy դաշնակից (a member of a confederacy) · ru соуча́стник (an accomplice in a plot) · bg съюзен (a member of a confederacy) · ru соо́бщник (an accomplice in a plot) · ca confederat (a member of a confederacy) · de Konföderierter (a member of a confederacy) · bg съучастник (an accomplice in a plot) · de Konföderierte (a member of a confederacy) · bg заговорник (an accomplice in a plot) · bg участник в конфедерация (a member of a confederacy) · ca confederada (a member of a confederacy) · bg съюзнически (a member of a confederacy) · fr confédéré (a member of a confederacy) · ru конфедера́тка (a member of a confederacy) · ru подставное лицо́ (an actor in an experiment) · fr confédérée (a member of a confederacy) · ru конфедера́т (a member of a confederacy)

wikipedia: Early Modern English · wikipedia: Middle english

confederate en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /kənˈfɛdəɹeɪt/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

First attested in 1531; borrowed from Late Latin cōnfoederātus, see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and Etymology 1 for more. Doublet of (obsolete) confeder.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To unite persons or states in a league, confederacy or conspiracy; to ally, league.
   • All persons who conspire confederate and agree to murder any person whether a subject of Her Majesty or not and whether within the Queen's dominions or not, […] shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall be liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than ten years. 1958, Parliament of Victoria, “Part I, Division 1, section 4”, in Crimes Act 1958, archived from the original on 23 May 2023, page 806:
   • With them the gods were confederated to break barbarian arrogance. 1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “III. The Persians”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 89:

Forms

Deriveds

confederative · unconfederated · confederator · confederater

Relateds

Confederacy · Confederado · defederate · federate · refederate · federator · confeder · fedifragous · confederacy · federal · Confederation · confederalist · confederalism · confederation · confederal

Translations (2)

fr confédérer (to unite, combine persons or states in a confederacy) · ca confederar (to unite, combine persons or states in a confederacy)