politics

See also: polítics

English

Etymology

From the adjective politic, by analogy with Aristotle’s τα πολιτικά (ta politiká, “affairs of state”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑl.ɪˌtɪks/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒl.ɪ.tɪks/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pol‧i‧tics

Noun

politics (countable and uncountable, plural politics)

1. (countable) A methodology and activities associated with running a government, an organization, or a movement.
   • 1996, Jan Jindy Pettman, Worlding Women: A feminist international politics, pages ix-x:

     There are by now many feminisms (Tong, 1989; Humm, 1992). [...] They are in shifting alliance or contest with postmodern critiques, which at times seem to threaten the very category 'women' and its possibilities for a feminist politics.

2. (countable) The profession of conducting political affairs.

   He made a career out of politics.

3. (in the plural) One's political stands and opinions.

   Their politics are clear from the bumper stickers on their cars.

4. (uncountable) Political maneuvers or diplomacy between people, groups, or organizations, especially involving power, influence or conflict.
   • 1999, George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, spoken by Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid):

     There is no stability; only politics. The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good.

5. (in the singular, fandom slang) Real-world beliefs and social issues irrelevant to the topic at hand.

   We're trying to talk about comic books, don't mention politics.

Verb

politics

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of politic

Derived terms

Terms derived from politics

• all politics is local
• geopolitics
• necropolitics
• palace politics

• petropolitics
• politic
• political
• politician

• politicize
• retail politics
• sexual politics
• wedge politics

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to politics

• police

• policy

• polity

Translations

a methodology and activities associated with running a government

• Abkhaz: аполитика (aṗoliṭiḳa)
• Afrikaans: politiek (af)
• Albanian: politikë (sq) f
• Amharic: ፖለቲካ (polätika)
• Arabic: سِيَاسَة‎ (ar) f (siyāsa)

  Egyptian Arabic: سياسة‎ f (siyāsa)

• Armenian: քաղաքականություն (hy) (kʿałakʿakanutʿyun)
• Asturian: política f
• Azerbaijani: siyasət (az), politika (az)
• Bashkir: сәйәсәт (säyäsät)
• Basque: politika (eu)
• Belarusian: палі́тыка (be) f (palítyka)
• Bengali: রাজনীতি (bn) (rajniti)
• Bulgarian: поли́тика (bg) f (polítika)
• Burmese: နိုင်ငံရေး (my) (nuingngam-re:)
• Catalan: política (ca) f
• Chechen: политика (politika)
• Chinese:

  Dungan: җынҗы (žɨnžɨ)

  Mandarin: 政治 (zh) (zhèngzhì)

• Cornish: politegieth f
• Crimean Tatar: siyaset
• Czech: politika (cs) f
• Danish: politik (da) c
• Dutch: politiek (nl) f
• Esperanto: politiko
• Estonian: poliitika (et)
• Finnish: politiikka (fi)
• French: politique (fr) f
• Galician: política (gl) f
• Georgian: პოლიტიკა (ṗoliṭiḳa)
• German: Politik (de) f
• Greek: πολιτική (el) f (politikí)

  Ancient: πολιτική f (politikḗ)

• Greenlandic: politikki
• Gujarati: રાજકારણ (rājkāraṇ)
• Haitian Creole: politik
• Hausa: siyasa (ha)
• Hebrew: פּוֹלִיטִיקָה‎ (he) f (polítika)
• Hindi: राजनीति (hi) f (rājnīti)
• Hungarian: politika (hu)
• Icelandic: stjórnmál (is)
• Indonesian: politik (id)
• Interlingua: politica f
• Irish: polaitíocht
• Italian: politica (it) f
• Japanese: 政治 (ja) (せいじ, seiji)
• Jarai: kơđi čar
• Javanese: naya, pulitik (jv)
• Kalmyk: төршл (törşl)
• Kannada: ರಾಜಕೀಯ (kn) (rājakīya)
• Karachay-Balkar: политика (politika)
• Kazakh: саясат (kk) (sayasat), политика (polïtïka)
• Khmer: នយោបាយ (km) (nĕəʼyoobaay)
• Korean: 정치 (ko) (jeongchi) (政治 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ramyarî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: саясат (ky) (sayasat), политика (politika)

• Lao: ການເມືອງ (lo) (kān mư̄ang)
• Latin: cīvīlitās f
• Latvian: politika f
• Lithuanian: politika (lt) f
• Macedonian: поли́тика f (polítika)
• Malay: politik (ms)
• Malayalam: രാഷ്ട്രതന്ത്രം (ml) (rāṣṭratantraṃ)
• Maltese: politika f
• Manchu: ᡩᠠᠰᠠᠨ (dasan)
• Maori: tōrangapū
• Marathi: राजकारण (rājkāraṇ)
• Moksha: политиксь (politiksʹ), политика (politika)
• Mongolian: улс төр (uls tör)
• Moroccan Amazigh: ⵜⴰⵙⵔⵜⵉⵜ f (tasrtit)
• Norman: politique f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: politikk (no) m

  Nynorsk: politikk (no) m

• Okinawan: 政治 (しーじ, shiiji)
• Ossetian: политикӕ (politikæ)
• Pashto: سياست‎ (ps) m (seyāsát)
• Persian: سیاست‎ (fa) (siyâsat), پلیتیک‎ (politik)
• Polish: polityka (pl) f
• Portuguese: política (pt) f
• Romanian: politică (ro) f
• Russian: поли́тика (ru) f (polítika)
• Scottish Gaelic: sluagh-iùl m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: политика f

  Roman: politika (sh) f

• Sinhalese: රාජනීතිය (rājanītiya)
• Slovak: politika f
• Slovene: politika (sl) f
• Somali: siyaasadda
• Spanish: política (es) f
• Swahili: siasa (sw)
• Swedish: politik (sv) c (1,2)
• Tagalog: politika (tl)
• Tajik: сиёсат (tg) (siyosat), политика (politika)
• Tamil: அரசியல் (ta) (araciyal)
• Tatar: сәясәт (tt) (säyasät)
• Telugu: రాజకీయాలు (te) (rājakīyālu)
• Thai: การเมือง (th) (gaan-mʉʉang)
• Tibetan: སྲིད་དོན (srid don), ཆབ་སྲིད (chab srid)
• Turkish: politika (tr), siyaset (tr)
• Turkmen: syýasat (tk), politika
• Ukrainian: полі́тика f (polítyka)
• Urdu: راجنیتی‎ f (rāj-nīti), سیاست‎ f (siyāsat)
• Uyghur: سىياسەت‎ (ug) (siyaset)
• Uzbek: siyosat (uz), politika (uz)
• Vietnamese: chính trị (vi) (政治)
• Welsh: gwleidyddiaeth (cy) f
• Yakut: политика (politika)
• Yiddish: פּאָליטיק‎ f (politik)
• Yoruba: ìṣèlú

Further reading

• politics in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• politics in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• colpitis, psilotic