confederacy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: con=fed=er=a=cy

CIDE DICTIONARY

confederacy, n. [From Confederate, a.].

•  A league or compact between two or more persons, bodies of men, or states, for mutual support or common action; alliance.  [1913 Webster]

  "The friendships of the world are oft
  Confederacies in vice or leagues of pleasure."  [1913 Webster]

  "He hath heard of our confederacy."  [1913 Webster]

  "Virginia promoted a confederacy."  [1913 Webster]
•  The persons, bodies, states, or nations united by a league; a confederation.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Grecian common wealth, . . . the most heroic confederacy that ever existed."  [1913 Webster]

  "Virgil has a whole confederacy against him."  [1913 Webster]
•  A combination of two or more persons to commit an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means. See Conspiracy.

Syn. -- League; compact; alliance; association; union; combination; confederation.

confederacy, n. 

 With the, the Confederate States of America.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

confederacy, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a league or alliance, esp. of confederate States.
2 a league for an unlawful or evil purpose; a conspiracy.
3 the condition or fact of being confederate; alliance; conspiracy.

Etymology

ME, AF, OF confederacie (as confederate)

THESAURUS

confederacy

Anschluss, Bund, Rochdale cooperative, addition, affiliation, agglomeration, aggregation, agreement, alignment, alliance, amalgamation, anschluss, artifice, assemblage, assimilation, association, axis, band, blend, blending, bloc, body, cabal, cahoots, cartel, centralization, coadunation, coalescence, coalition, colleagueship, college, collegialism, collegiality, collusion, combination, combine, combo, common market, complicity, complot, composition, comradeship, confederation, confraternity, congeries, conglomeration, conjugation, conjunction, connivance, consolidation, conspiracy, consumer cooperative, contrivance, contriving, cooperative, cooperative society, copartnership, copartnery, corps, council, counterplot, covin, credit union, customs union, deep-laid plot, economic community, ecumenism, embodiment, encompassment, engineering, enosis, federalization, federation, fellowship, finagling, finesse, frame-up, fraternalism, fraternity, fraternization, free trade area, freemasonry, fusion, game, gang, group, grouping, hookup, inclusion, incorporation, integration, intrigue, junction, junta, league, little game, machination, machine, maneuvering, manipulation, marriage, meld, melding, merger, mob, package, package deal, partnership, plot, plotting, political machine, rigging, ring, scheme, schemery, scheming, society, sodality, solidification, sorority, stratagem, syncretism, syndication, syneresis, synthesis, tie-in, tie-up, trick, underplot, unification, union, web of intrigue, wedding, wire-pulling

ROGET THESAURUS

confederacy

Party

N party, faction, side, denomination, communion, set, crew, band, horde, posse, phalanx, family, clan, team, tong, council, community, body, fellowship, sodality, solidarity, confraternity, familistere, familistery, brotherhood, sisterhood, knot, gang, clique, ring, circle, group, crowd, in-crowd, coterie, club, casino, machine, Tammany, Tammany Hall, corporation, corporate body, guild, establishment, company, copartnership, partnership, firm, house, joint concern, joint-stock company, cahoot, combine, trust, society, association, institute, institution, union, trades union, league, syndicate, alliance, Verein, Bund, Zollverein, combination, Turnverein, league offensive and defensive, alliance offensive and defensive, coalition, federation, confederation, confederacy, junto, cabal, camarilla, camorra, brigue, freemasonry, party spirit, Confederates, Conservatives, Democrats, Federalists, Federals, Freemason, Knight Templar, Kuklux, Kuklux Klan, KKK, Liberals, Luddites, Republicans, Socialists, Tories, Whigs staff, dramatis personae, in league, in partnership, in alliance, bonded together, banded together, linked, joined together, embattled, confederated, federative, joint, hand in hand, side by side, shoulder to shoulder, en masse, in the same boat.