CONFEDERACY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Confederacy mean? 

• CONFEDERACY (noun)
  The noun CONFEDERACY has 4 senses:

1. the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861

2. a union of political organizations

3. a group of conspirators banded together to achieve some harmful or illegal purpose

4. a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act

  Familiarity information: CONFEDERACY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONFEDERACY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Confederacy; Confederate States; Confederate States of America; Dixie; Dixieland; South

Instance hypernyms:

geographic area; geographic region; geographical area; geographical region (a demarcated area of the Earth)

Meronyms (parts of "Confederacy"):

slave state (any of the southern states in which slavery was legal prior to the American Civil War)

Meronyms (members of "Confederacy"):

Everglade State; FL; Fla.; Florida; Sunshine State (a state in southeastern United States between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War. In Spanish, Florida means Flowery)

Old Dominion; Old Dominion State; VA; Va.; Virginia (a state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War)

Lone-Star State; Tex.; Texas; TX (the second largest state; located in southwestern United States on the Gulf of Mexico)

Tenn.; Tennessee; TN; Volunteer State (a state in east central United States)

Palmetto State; S.C.; SC; South Carolina (a state in the Deep South; one of the original 13 colonies)

N.C.; NC; North Carolina; Old North State; Tar Heel State (a state in southeastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies)

Missouri; MO; Mo.; Show Me State (a midwestern state in central United States; a border state during the American Civil War, Missouri was admitted to the Confederacy without actually seceding from the Union)

Magnolia State; Miss.; Mississippi; MS (a state in the Deep South on the gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate States during the American Civil War)

LA; La.; Louisiana; Pelican State (a state in southern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War)

Empire State of the South; GA; Ga.; Georgia; Peach State (a state in southeastern United States; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War)

AR; Ark.; Arkansas; Land of Opportunity (a state in south central United States; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War)

AL; Ala.; Alabama; Camellia State; Heart of Dixie (a state in the southeastern United States on the Gulf of Mexico; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War)

Attribute:

south (situated in or facing or moving toward or coming from the south)

southern (in or characteristic of a region of the United States south of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A union of political organizations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

confederacy; confederation; federation

Hypernyms ("confederacy" is a kind of...):

union (a political unit formed from previously independent people or organizations)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "confederacy"):

nation (a federation of tribes (especially Native American tribes))

Creek Confederacy (a North American Indian confederacy organized by the Muskogee that dominated the southeastern part of the United States before being removed to Oklahoma)

Hanseatic League (a commercial and defensive confederation of free cities in northern Germany and surrounding areas; formed in 1241 and most influential in the 14th century when it included over 100 towns and functioned as an independent political power; the last official assembly was held in 1669)

Derivation:

confederate (form a confederation with; of nations)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A group of conspirators banded together to achieve some harmful or illegal purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

confederacy; conspiracy

Hypernyms ("confederacy" is a kind of...):

band; circle; lot; set (an unofficial association of people or groups)

Meronyms (members of "confederacy"):

coconspirator; conspirator; machinator; plotter (a member of a conspiracy)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

confederacy; conspiracy

Hypernyms ("confederacy" is a kind of...):

agreement; understanding (the statement (oral or written) of an exchange of promises)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "confederacy"):

conspiracy of silence (a conspiracy not to talk about some situation or event)

 Context examples 

If Britain were driven into war with one confederacy, it would assure the supremacy of the other confederacy, whether they joined in the war or not.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The gentlemen came; and she thought he looked as if he would have answered her hopes; but, alas! the ladies had crowded round the table, where Miss Bennet was making tea, and Elizabeth pouring out the coffee, in so close a confederacy that there was not a single vacancy near her which would admit of a chair.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

With such a confederacy against her—with a knowledge so intimate of his goodness—with a conviction of his fond attachment to herself, which at last, though long after it was observable to everybody else—burst on her—what could she do?

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

My master was yet wholly at a loss to understand what motives could incite this race of lawyers to perplex, disquiet, and weary themselves, and engage in a confederacy of injustice, merely for the sake of injuring their fellow-animals; neither could he comprehend what I meant in saying, they did it for hire.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

“My dear child,” said she, laughing, “what are you afraid of? Do you think Henry will claim the necklace as mine, and fancy you did not come honestly by it? or are you imagining he would be too much flattered by seeing round your lovely throat an ornament which his money purchased three years ago, before he knew there was such a throat in the world? or perhaps”—looking archly—“you suspect a confederacy between us, and that what I am now doing is with his knowledge and at his desire?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)