Dictionary

polity en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɔl.ə.ti/ (Australia)
• [ˈpɑ.lə.ɾi] (Canada, US)
• (US) audio
• [ˈpɔl.ə.ɾi] (Australia)
• /ˈpɑ.lə.ti/ (Canada, US)
• (UK) audio
• /ˈpɒl.ɪ.ti/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle French politie, from Latin polītīa, from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “polity, policy, the state”). Doublet of police, policy, and polis (“police”).

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) Organizational structure and governance, especially of a state or a religion.
   • Church polity was a topic of fierce dispute in 17th-century Britain.
   • The utopian community at Ephrata flourished for forty years, and the last celibates at Ephrata died after the turn of the century. It had continuing influences reaching far into the nineteenth century, and in some measure anticipated Mormon polity and cosmology. 1994, John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844, →ISBN, page 42:
   • Of course, other visions of Buddhist polity and its relationship to monastic life have occurred throughout the Buddhist world. For example in the seventeenth century Tibetan Buddhists successfully established a theocracy under the guidance of monks […] 2011, Jason A. Carbine, Sons of the Buddha: Continuities and Ruptures in a Burmese Monastic Tradition, →ISBN, page 9, note 26:
   • Once exposed, Confucianism was to become a political issue, an alternative among other contending ideologies which threatened to change the polity of the empire. 1979, Jerome Ch’en, China and the West: Society and Culture, 1815–1937, page 270:
2. (countable) A politically organized unit, especially a nation of people, a class or ingroup that governs it, or the state ruled thereby.
   • New polities emerged in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Forms

Coordinates

policy

Deriveds

interpolity · subpolity · divine polity

Relateds

politic · police · policy · political · politics · politician · politicize

Translations (41)

nl staatsbestel (organizational structure and governance) · fi hallintokoneisto (organizational structure and governance) · cs (politické) zřízení (organizational structure and governance) · hu állam (politically organized unit) · nl staatsvorm (politically organized unit) · hu politikai entitás/közösség (politically organized unit) · fi hallintoalue (politically organized unit) · pt estado (politically organized unit) · ru строй (organizational structure and governance) · ja 政体 (organizational structure and governance) · es estado (politically organized unit) · nl staatsbestel (politically organized unit) · mn ᠵᠠᠰᠠᠭ (politically organized unit) · hu államigazgatás (organizational structure and governance) · ru устро́йство (organizational structure and governance) · ru фо́рма правле́ния (organizational structure and governance) · nl bestuursvorm (organizational structure and governance) · fr politie (politically organized unit) · hu közigazgatás (organizational structure and governance) · mn засаг (politically organized unit) · hu államalakulat (politically organized unit) · la polītīa (politically organized unit) · hu intézményrendszer (organizational structure and governance) · el πολιτεία (politically organized unit) · pon wehi (politically organized unit) · ru режи́м (organizational structure and governance) · cmn 政體 /政体 (organizational structure and governance) · bg държавно устройство (organizational structure and governance) · ro politie (politically organized unit) · fi hallinto (organizational structure and governance) · sv statsbildning (politically organized unit) · cs uskupení (politically organized unit) · grc πολιτεία (politically organized unit) · de Gemeinwesen (organizational structure and governance) · el πολίτευμα (organizational structure and governance) · pt regime (organizational structure and governance) · nl leden van een gemeenschap (organizational structure and governance) · es régimen (organizational structure and governance) · mn ᠲᠥᠷᠥ (politically organized unit) · mn төр (politically organized unit) · frm politie (politically organized unit)