political.
politics.
Poland.
Also Pol Polish.
Poland
Polish
What does pol mean? Pol is an informal word for a politician—a person who holds or is seeking political office as an elected government official. Like the word politician, pol is most commonly used in the context of politicians campaigning, giving speeches, and promoting themselves, as opposed to the activities that they do as part of being a government official—voting, debating issues, and working to find solutions to problems (in which case a politician might be called a representative or officeholder—or a legislator or lawmaker, if they work in a lawmaking capacity). Pol is especially used to refer to a long-term politician who’s experienced in making political deals or exchanging political favors. For that reason, it’s often used in a negative way, such as to refer to politicians who are considered members of the establishment. The informal term politico can be used to mean the same thing. Example: We should be focusing on real issues instead of listening to endless rhetoric from pols and pundits.
First recorded in 1940–45; by shortening
A pol is a politician, or someone who's very politically active. When pols are arguing on the TV news, you may be tempted to change the channel and watch cartoons instead. Pol is a shortened form of politician that's been used colloquially since the 1940s in North America. Politician can trace its roots back to the Greek politikos, "of citizens, the state, or public life," from polis, or "city." Today pol is used not only for political candidates, but also political experts and enthusiasts.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Who knows what might have happened if an ordinary pol like Harding, rather than the zealous brainiac Hoover, had been president in 1929.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
Wearing a blouse decorated with orange poppies, the bespectacled Barrios looked every bit the polite pol that O.C. leaders had taken her to be.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 15, 2025
But some are already drawing parallels with another Arizona pol who Gallego replaced: former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who left the Democratic Party before deciding against a run for reelection.
From Salon • Jan. 10, 2025
Yet the veteran California pol, a determined survivor, is the key to guiding his party to a shutdown resolution.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 29, 2023
On her asking him to tell her what he had been writing, he repeated the verses which are found in the Heautontimoroumenos: Satis pol proterve me Syri promessa—Heauton.
From The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete by Suetonius Tranquillus, Gaius
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.
