diplomacy
Americannoun
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the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.
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the art or science of conducting such negotiations.
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skill in managing negotiations, handling people, etc., so that there is little or no ill will; tact.
Seating one's dinner guests often calls for considerable diplomacy.
noun
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the conduct of the relations of one state with another by peaceful means
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skill in the management of international relations
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tact, skill, or cunning in dealing with people
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of diplomacy
First recorded in 1790–1800; from French diplomatie, from diplomat(e) diplomat + -ie -y 3
Explanation
Diplomacy is the art of helping groups to get along and even work together. If you have a gift for diplomacy, you can get bickering siblings to cooperate. The word diplomacy comes from the French word diplomatie, which means “diplomat.” A diplomat lives in a foreign country, fluent in its language — and culture. The job of a diplomat is to practice diplomacy among nations, understanding the concerns and needs of all and, if possible, guiding them toward decisions that are mutually agreeable.
Vocabulary lists containing diplomacy
Night
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Power Suffix: -acy
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Government
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even Tusk later admitted that "diplomacy has yielded no results".
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
Minseon Ku, a diplomacy professor at DePaul University, told AFP that "Beijing probably has accepted North Korea as a nuclear state", but Xi "will probably tell Kim that China wants stability more than anything".
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
"President Lai's recent visit to Eswatini has once again made the world feel the challenges facing Taiwan's diplomacy," he wrote on Facebook.
From BBC • Jun. 4, 2026
Bypassing it takes time, money and delicate cross-border diplomacy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026
“Power is the greatest aphrodisiac,” Kissinger famously said, and it must have been true: because Chapter Eleven was glued to the set night after night, following the machinations of diplomacy.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
