Synonyms

body politic

American

noun

Political Science.

a people regarded as a political body under an organized government.

body politic British

noun

the people of a nation or the nation itself considered as a political entity; the state

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of body politic

1425–75; late Middle English bodi politik

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.

See Examples For:

body politic

Propaganda, he argues, could be a tool to regulate and benefit the body politic.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Those insults are fed intravenously and instantaneously into the body politic due to our interconnectivity.

From Salon ● Feb. 6, 2026

What hope of freedom was there unless Black Americans were accepted as full members of the body politic?

From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2025

“If we possess anything important in our citizenship, it’s the ability to vote and to participate in the body politic of our localities in our nation,” Lacy said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 19, 2024

The body politic was so disordered that all government seemed suspended.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023