POLITICS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does politics mean? 

• POLITICS (noun)
  The noun POLITICS has 5 senses:

1. social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power

2. the study of government of states and other political units

3. the profession devoted to governing and to political affairs

4. the opinion you hold with respect to political questions

5. the activities and affairs involved in managing a state or a government

  Familiarity information: POLITICS used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• POLITICS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

political relation; politics

Context example:

office politics is often counterproductive

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

social relation (a relation between living organisms (especially between people))

Domain member category:

wilderness ((politics) a state of disfavor)

Derivation:

politician (a person active in party politics)

politician (a leader engaged in civil administration)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The study of government of states and other political units

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

government; political science; politics

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

social science (the branch of science that studies society and the relationships of individual within a society)

Domain category:

administration; governance; governing; government; government activity (the act of governing; exercising authority)

Domain member category:

side (one of two or more contesting groups)

nominating address; nominating speech; nomination (an address (usually at a political convention) proposing the name of a candidate to run for election)

assassin; assassinator; bravo (a murderer (especially one who kills a prominent political figure) who kills by a surprise attack and often is hired to do the deed)

muckraker; mudslinger (one who spreads real or alleged scandal about another (usually for political advantage))

fencesitter; independent; mugwump (a neutral or uncommitted person (especially in politics))

regular (a dependable follower (especially in party politics))

coattails effect ((politics) the consequence of one popular candidate in an election drawing votes for other members of the same political party)

war chest (a fund accumulated to finance a war (or a political campaign))

Sturm und Drang; turbulence; upheaval (a state of violent disturbance and disorder (as in politics or social conditions generally))

minimalist (advocating minimal reforms (as in government or politics))

civilisation; civilization (a society in an advanced state of social development (e.g., with complex legal and political and religious organizations))

Soviets (the government of the Soviet Union)

combination (an alliance of people or corporations or countries for a special purpose (formerly to achieve some antisocial end but now for general political or economic purposes))

catechism (a series of question put to an individual (such as a political candidate) to elicit their views)

cabal; conspiracy (a plot to carry out some harmful or illegal act (especially a political plot))

demonstration; manifestation (a public display of group feelings (usually of a political nature))

patronage ((politics) granting favors or giving contracts or making appointments to office in return for political support)

mandate (the commission that is given to a government and its policies through an electoral victory)

politics (the profession devoted to governing and to political affairs)

bolt (a sudden abandonment (as from a political party))

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

geopolitics (the study of the effects of economic geography on the powers of the state)

practical politics; realpolitik (politics based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The profession devoted to governing and to political affairs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

profession (an occupation requiring special education (especially in the liberal arts or sciences))

Domain category:

government; political science; politics (the study of government of states and other political units)

Derivation:

political (of or relating to the profession of governing)

politician (a person active in party politics)

politician (a leader engaged in civil administration)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The opinion you hold with respect to political questions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

political sympathies; politics

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

opinion; persuasion; sentiment; thought; view (a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty)

Derivation:

political (of or relating to your views about social relationships involving authority or power)

Sense 5

Meaning:

The activities and affairs involved in managing a state or a government

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

government agencies multiplied beyond the control of representative politics

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

activity (any specific behavior)

affairs (transactions of professional or public interest)

 Context examples 

There, Mr. Holmes, you take me into regions of high international politics.

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

Whether party, in religion or politics, were observed to be of any weight in the scale of justice?

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

I confess that neither the structure of languages, nor the code of governments, nor the politics of various states possessed attractions for me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

John is so sensible, I'm afraid he will think I'm stupid if I ask questions about politics and things.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

You have politics, of course; and it would be too bad to plague you with the names of people and parties that fill up my time.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

He read English society novels, wherein he caught glimpses of men and women talking politics and philosophy.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember.

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

My poor husband would sit pale and listless, listening to the endless raving upon politics and upon social questions which made up our visitor’s conversation.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But straightway they all plunged into politics, varied by the drinking of sweet maraschino, which a footman brought round upon a salver.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sir George Lynn, Colonel Dent, and Mr. Eshton discussed politics, or county affairs, or justice business.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)