polity

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: pol=i=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

polity, n. [L. politia, Gr. : cf. F. politie. See 1st Policy, Police.].

•  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.  Blackstone. Hooker.  [1913 Webster]
•  Hence: The form or constitution by which any institution is organized; the recognized principles which lie at the foundation of any human institution.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nor is possible that any form of polity, much less polity ecclesiastical, should be good, unless God himself be author of it."  [1913 Webster]
•  Policy; art; management.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Policy.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

polity, n. (pl. -ies)
1 a form or process of civil government or constitution.
2 an organized society; a State as a political entity.

Etymology

L politia f. Gk politeia f. polites citizen f. polis city

THESAURUS

polity

Everyman, John Doe, Machtpolitik, Public, Realpolitik, Tammany Hall, administration, ally, archduchy, archdukedom, autarky, bimetallism, body politic, bossism, buffer state, captive nation, career politics, chieftaincy, chieftainry, circumspection, circumspectness, citizenry, city-state, civil government, colony, common man, commonweal, commonwealth, community, community at large, confrontation politics, consensus politics, consideration, cool judgment, country, county, course, creed, direction, discipline, discreetness, discretion, discrimination, dispensation, disposition, domain, dominion, duchy, dukedom, earldom, economic self-sufficiency, economics in action, empery, empire, empirical politics, estate, everybody, everyman, everyone, everywoman, folk, folks, form of government, free city, free enterprise, free trade, general public, gentry, good judgment, governance, government, governmentalism, grand duchy, guiding principles, judgment, judiciousness, kid-glove politics, kingdom, laissez-faire, laissez-faireism, land, line, localism, machine politics, managed currency, management, mandant, mandate, mandated territory, mandatee, mandatory, men, nation, nationality, noninterference, nonintervention, nullification, oversight, partisan politics, partisanism, party line, party principle, peanut politics, people, people in general, persons, petty politics, plan of action, planned economy, platform, policy, polis, political organization, politics, populace, population, pork-barrel politics, position, position paper, possession, power, power politics, practical politics, pressure-group politics, price supports, principality, principate, principles, procedure, program, protection, protectionism, protectorate, providence, province, prudence, prudentialism, public, public policy, pump-priming, puppet government, puppet regime, realm, reflection, reflectiveness, reform politics, regime, regimen, regnancy, regulation, reign, republic, rule, satellite, sectionalism, seneschalty, settlement, silk-stocking politics, society, sound judgment, soundness of judgment, sovereign nation, sovereignty, state, sultanate, superpower, supervision, sway, system of government, territory, thoughtfulness, toparchia, toparchy, ward politics, weighing, world, you and me

ROGET THESAURUS

polity

Conduct

N conduct, behavior, deportment, comportment, carriage, maintien, demeanor, guise, bearing, manner, observance, dealing, transaction, business, tactics, game, game plan, policy, polity, generalship, statesmanship, seamanship, strategy, strategics, plan, management, husbandry, housekeeping, housewifery, stewardship, menage, regime, economy, economics, political economy, government, execution, manipulation, treatment, campaign, career, life, course, walk, race, record, course of conduct, line of conduct, line of action, line of proceeding, role, process, ways, practice, procedure, modus operandi, MO, method of operating, method, path, conducting, strategical, businesslike, practical, executive.

Duty

N duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility, bounden duty, imperative duty, call, call of duty, accountability, allegiance, fealty, tie engagement, part, function, calling, morality, morals, decalogue, case of conscience, conscientiousness, conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego, the hell within, dueness, propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon, the thing, the proper thing, the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, ethics, ethology, deontology, aretology, moral philosophy, ethical philosophy, casuistry, polity, observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption, good behavior, obligatory, binding, imperative, peremptory, stringent, behooving, incumbent on, chargeable on, under obligation, obliged by, bound by, tied by, saddled with, due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to, tied down, compromised, in duty bound, amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable, right, meet, moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological, with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk, suo periculo, in foro conscientiae, quamdiu se bene gesserit, dura lex sed lex, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honos habet onus, leve fit quod bene fertur onus, loyaute m'oblige, simple duty bath no place for fear, stern daughter of the voice of God, there is a higher law than the Constitution.