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• confederate
  confederate

  adjective

  united in a league, alliance, or conspiracy.
• Confederate
  Confederate

  adjective

  of, supporting, or relating to the Confederate States of America

confederate

American  

[kuhn-fed-er-it, -fed-rit, kuhn-fed-uh-rayt] / kənˈfɛd ər ɪt, -ˈfɛd rɪt, kənˈfɛd əˌreɪt /

adjective

1. united in a league, alliance, or conspiracy.

2. (initial capital letter) of or relating to the Confederate States of America.

   the Confederate army.

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noun

• confederates
  plural

1. a person, group, nation, etc., united with others in a confederacy; an ally.

   Synonyms:

   cohort, partner, associate

2. an accomplice, especially in a mischievous or criminal act.

3. (initial capital letter) a supporter of the Confederate States of America.

verb (used with or without object)

confederated, confederating

1. to unite in a league, alliance, or conspiracy.

confederate ¹ British  

noun

1. a nation, state, or individual that is part of a confederacy

2. someone who is part of a conspiracy; accomplice

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adjective

1. united in a confederacy; allied

verb

1. to form into or become part of a confederacy

Confederate ² British  

/ kənˈfɛdərɪt, -ˈfɛdrɪt /

adjective

1. of, supporting, or relating to the Confederate States of America

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noun

1. a supporter of the Confederate States of America

Confederate Cultural  

1. A descriptive term for the institutions and people of the Confederacy.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• half-Confederate
  adjective
• nonconfederate
  adjective
• pro-Confederate
  adjective
• unconfederated
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• confederates
  plural

Etymology

Origin of confederate

1350–1400; Middle English confederat < Late Latin confoederātus (past participle of confoederāre to unite in a league), equivalent to con- con- + foeder- (stem of foedus ) treaty ( see fidelity) + -ātus -ate ¹

Explanation

A confederate is an ally — someone who's on your side. Your brother, the artist, might be your only confederate in your goal of studying modern dance in Paris this summer. A confederate is anyone who supports you and works toward the same goal with you. When it is used in the context of government or politics, it means "united by a treaty," like two countries that have joined forces against a third. When the first letter is capitalized, Confederate refers to the southern United States during the Civil War, which were confederates in their fight to secede from the rest of the country.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

confederate Confederate confederates confederated confederating

Grace Soens, who plays June, Marisol’s confederate at work, and Jack Sharpe, who takes on the role of Lenny, June’s mentally disturbed brother, expand this unstable world, where it’s hard to know who to trust.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

The first march I ever attended was a protest in January 2000, to bring down the confederate flag from the top of the South Carolina State House.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2022

The bombastic Mayor Shinn of Jefferson Mays and overdecorated Mrs. Shinn of Jayne Houdyshell are turned into veritable sight gags; Shuler Hensley’s Marcellus, Hill’s confederate, is made to appear a witless errand boy.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 11, 2022

The “focal” behavior, which both the confederate and an onlooking researcher recorded, was holding the door.

From Scientific American ● Sep. 21, 2021

As they walked down the hallway with their questionnaire, a man—a confederate of the experimenters—walked past them and pulled out a drawer in one of the filing cabinets.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

On a drizzly morning in June, all was still on Tuskegee's South Main Street, a two-lane road that runs into the heart of the town square, where a towering Confederate monument loomed over the emptiness.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

Fifteen years earlier, civil war had broken out when 11 states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026

Gallrein is close to Louisville in a county that features multiple distilleries and a history of Confederate guerrilla violence during the Civil War.

From Slate ● May 19, 2026

At the rally in Montgomery, chants of “we won’t go back” echoed through crowds gathered near the Alabama Capitol, where both Confederate and civil rights monuments stand within view of one another.

From Salon ● May 17, 2026

Once the South took control of the submarine, Confederate navy lieutenant John Payne volunteered to be its captain.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

The case against Rocha Moya and his alleged confederates sent shock waves through the country’s political and law enforcement establishments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Worse news: He also won’t be bringing in you or any of your confederates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

The provision was added to the Constitution after the Civil War to prevent former confederates from returning to their positions in government.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023

The affidavit, which was sworn to on Aug. 5, also noted that the F.B.I. had “not yet identified all potential criminal confederates nor located all evidence related to its investigation.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2022

And loyal confederates, Hamlet and I never revealed that we were authors of this tragicomedy.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

Wayne commanded Army forces during the Northwest Indian War, a confrontation on the American frontier that ended with the Battle of Fallen Timbers, a key victory over confederated Native forces that allied with the British.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2023

Gorbachev, who struggled to form even a loosely confederated union out of the fifteen Soviet republics, blamed Yeltsin and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus for plotting illegally to dissolve the bloc.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 3, 2016

After all, it is the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union, or the PYD, which wants autonomy for the Kurds within a future confederated Syria.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 5, 2015

It was issued the year before the Constitutional Convention that would send the confederated former colonies into the epic called the United States of America. 

From Forbes ● Aug. 18, 2014

He did not know what it was called on this side of the Ohio, but he did know that every such menace was eagerly caught up and magnified by those confederated with the rebels.

From Portrait and Biography of Parson Brownlow, The Tennessee Patriot by William Gannaway Brownlow

A combine "conspiring, combining, confederating, agreeing and cooperating between or among themselves."

From Time Magazine Archive

In Washington, Bosnian Croats and Muslims signed the constitution of a new federated state, confederating it with Croatia.

From Time Magazine Archive

No: it is between him and them combining and confederating, on one side, and the public revenues, and the miserable inhabitants of a ruined country, on the other.

From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 03 (of 12) by Edmund Burke

In the case of Lewis Payne, the commission, having maturely considered the evidence adduced, finds the accused as follows: Of the specification, "Guilty, except combining, confederating, and conspiring with Edward Spangler; of this, not guilty."

From A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Volume 6, part 2: Andrew Johnson by James D. (James Daniel) Richardson

In confederating under his superintendence all men knew what they were doing.

From Native Races and the War by Josephine E. (Josephine Elizabeth Grey) Butler