politics

See also: polítics

English

Etymology

From the adjective politic, by analogy with Aristotle’s τά πολῑτῐκᾱ́ (tá polītikā́, “affairs of state”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒl.ɪ.tɪks/, /ˈpɒl.ə.tɪks/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑ.lɪˌtɪks/, /ˈpɑ.ləˌtɪks/

  • Audio (US):

    (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, page 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. (treated as a plural noun) 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, standing, 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, informal) 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 of politic

Derived terms

• aeropolitics
• agri-politics
• all politics are local
• all politics is local
• antipolitics
• astropolitics
• a week is a long time in politics
• biopolitics
• bolitics
• cosmopolitics
• cyberpolitics
• dog whistle politics
• dog-whistle politics
• domopolitics
• econopolitics
• ecopolitics
• ethnopolitics
• Europolitics
• exopolitics
• genopolitics
• geopolitics
• gesture politics
• high politics
• identity politics
• infrapolitics
• low politics
• machine politics
• macropolitics
• megapolitics
• metapolitics
• micropolitics
• narcopolitics
• necropolitics
• neuropolitics
• office politics
• ostrich politics
• palace-politics
• palace politics
• parapolitics
• parish pump politics
• party politics
• petropolitics
• play politics
• politard
• politic
• political
• politician
• politicize
• politics of envy
• politologist
• politology
• politonym
• politrickery
• politricks
• power politics
• psychopolitics
• respectability politics
• retail politics
• rubber stamp politics
• schizopolitics
• sexual politics
• sociopolitics
• superpolitics
• technopolitics
• telepolitics
• wedge politics

 

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to politics

• police
• policy
• polity

Translations

a methodology and activities associated with running a government

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

  Egyptian Arabic: سياسة f (siyāsa)

• Armenian: քաղաքականություն (hy) (kʻaġakʻakanutʻyun)
• Assamese: ৰাজনীতি (razoniti)
• Asturian: política f
• Azerbaijani:

  Abjad: سیاست (siāsæt)

  Roman: siyasət (az), politika (az)

• Bashkir: сәйәсәт (səyəsət), политика (politika)
• Basque: politika (eu)
• Belarusian: палі́тыка (be) f (palítyka)
• Bengali: রাজনীতি (bn) (rajniti)
• Bulgarian: поли́тика (bg) f (polítika)
• Burmese: နိုင်ငံရေး (my) (nuingngam-re:)
• Buryat: улас түрэ (ulas türe)
• Carpathian Rusyn: полі́тіка f (polítika)
• Catalan: política (ca) f
• Chechen: политика (politika)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 政治 (zing³ zi⁶)

  Dungan: җынҗы (žɨnžɨ)

  Eastern Min: 政治 (céng-dê)

  Hakka: 政治 (chṳn-chhṳ)

  Hokkien: 政治 (zh-min-nan) (chèng-tī)

  Mandarin: 政治 (zh) (zhèngzhì)

  Wu: 政治 (⁵tsen-zy)

• 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
• Gagauz: politika
• 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), सियासत (hi) f (siyāsat)
• Hungarian: politika (hu)
• Icelandic: stjórnmál (is) n pl
• Indonesian: politik (id), siasat (id), siasah (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), сиясат (siyasat)
• Kazakh: саясат (kk) (saäsat)
• Khmer: នយោបាយ (km) (nĕəʼyoobaay)
• Korean: 정치(政治) (ko) (jeongchi)
• Kumyk: сиясат (siyasat)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: ramyarî (ku), siyaset (ku), rêzanî (ku), polîtîka (ku)

• Kyrgyz: саясат (ky) (sayasat), политика (politika)
• Lao: ການເມືອງ (lo) (kān mư̄ang)
• Latin: cīvīlitās f
• Latvian: politika f
• Lithuanian: politika (lt) f
• Macedonian: политика f (politika)
• Malay: politik (ms), siasah (ms)
• Malayalam: രാഷ്ട്രീയം (ml) (rāṣṭrīyaṁ)
• Maltese: politika f
• Manchu: ᡩᠠᠰᠠᠨ (dasan)
• Maori: tōrangapū
• Marathi: राजकारण (rājkāraṇ)
• Moksha: политиксь (poľiťikś), политика (poľiťika)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: улс төр (uls tör)

• Moroccan Amazigh: ⵜⴰⵙⵔⵜⵉⵜ f (tasrtit)
• Nepali: राजनीति (ne) (rājanīti)
• Norman: politique f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: politikk (no) m

  Nynorsk: politikk (no) m

• Odia: ରାଜନୀତି (or) (rājaniti)
• Okinawan: 政治 (しーじ, shiiji)
• Oromo: siyaasa
• Ossetian: политикӕ (politikæ)
• Pashto: سياست (ps) m (seyāsat)
• Persian:

  Dari: سِیَاسَت (fa) (siyāsat)

  Iranian Persian: سِیاسَت (fa) (siyâsat), پُلیتیک (politik)

• Polish: polityka (pl) f
• Portuguese: política (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਸਿਆਸਤ (pa) (siāsat), ਰਾਜਨੀਤੀ (rājnītī)
• Romanian: politică (ro) f
• Russian: поли́тика (ru) f (polítika)
• Scottish Gaelic: sluagh-iùl m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: полѝтика f

  Roman: polìtika (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
• Tagalog: politika (tl)
• Tajik: сиёсат (tg) (siyosat), политика (politika)
• Tamil: அரசியல் (ta) (araciyal)
• Tatar: сәясәт (tt) (säyasät), политика (politika)
• Telugu: రాజకీయాలు (te) (rājakīyālu)
• Thai: การเมือง (th) (gaan-mʉʉang)
• Tibetan: སྲིད་དོན (srid don), ཆབ་སྲིད (chab srid)
• Tigrinya: ፖለቲካ (polätika)
• Turkish: politika (tr), siyaset (tr)
• Turkmen: syýasat (tk), politika
• Ukrainian: полі́тика (uk) f (polítyka)
• Urdu: سِیاسَت f (siyāsat), راج نِیتی f (rāj nītī),
• Uyghur: سىياسەت (ug) (siyaset)
• Uzbek: siyosat (uz), politika (uz)
• Vietnamese: chính trị (vi) (政治)
• Welsh: gwleidyddiaeth (cy) f
• Yakut: бэлиитикэ (beliitike), политика (politika)
• Yiddish: פּאָליטיק f (politik)
• Yoruba: ìṣèlú

Further reading

• “politics”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “politics”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• colpitis, psilotic