Polity Meaning
/ˈpɒl.ɪ.ti/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounOrganizational structure and governance, especially of a state or a religion.
nounA politically organized unit, especially a nation of people, a class or ingroup that governs it, or the state ruled thereby.
Sentence Examples
Maratha polity consisted of a decentralised confederacy of various states.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After years of civil war, the people finally established a stable ____ to bring peace.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ancient ____ was governed by a council of elders who made decisions by consensus.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French politie, from Latin polītīa, from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “polity, policy, the state”). Doublet of police, policy, and polis (“police”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After years of civil war, the people finally established a stable ____ to bring peace.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ancient ____ was governed by a council of elders who made decisions by consensus.