polity

Definition

Organizational structure and governance, especially of a state or a religion.

Etymology

From Middle French politie, from Latin polītīa, from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “polity, policy, the state”). Doublet of police, policy, and polis (“police”).

Example Sentences

• "Church polity was a topic of fierce dispute in 17th-century Britain."
• "Once exposed, Confucianism was to become a political issue, an alternative among other contending ideologies which threatened to change the polity of the empire."
• "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."

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