political

[puh-lit-i-kuhl]

adjective

1. of, relating to, or concerned with politics.

   political writers.

2. of, relating to, or connected with a political party.

   a political campaign.

3. exercising or seeking power in the governmental or public affairs of a state, municipality, etc..

   a political machine;

   a political boss.

4. of, relating to, or involving the state or its government.

   a political offense.

5. having a definite policy or system of government.

   a political community.

6. of or relating to citizens.

   political rights.

political

/ pəˈlɪtɪkəl /

adjective

1. of or relating to the state, government, the body politic, public administration, policy-making, etc

2. 1. of, involved in, or relating to government policy-making as distinguished from administration or law

   2. of or relating to the civil aspects of government as distinguished from the military

3. of, dealing with, or relating to politics

   a political person

4. of, characteristic of, or relating to the parties and the partisan aspects of politics

5. organized or ordered with respect to government

   a political unit

Other Word Forms

• politically adverb
• antipolitical adjective
• antipolitically adverb
• nonpolitical adjective
• nonpolitically adverb
• overpolitical adjective
• overpolitically adverb
• prepolitical adjective
• prepolitically adverb
• pseudopolitical adjective
• quasi-political adjective
• quasi-politically adverb
• subpolitical adjective
• subpolitically adverb
• unpolitical adjective
• unpolitically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of political¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Latin polītic(us) “civic” ( politic ) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

The latest incident is part of a growing anger over what many Indonesians perceive to be the impunity of the country's political elite.

Read more on BBC

Given political uncertainty is expected to stay high, the bias of JGB yield curve steepening and yen weakening could persist, the members add.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He pointed out California allows university programs that support Native American students because they were narrowly tailored to focus on tribal affiliation — which is considered a political classification — instead of race or ethnicity.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"From a political point of view, the initiative has a lot of value but it has not yet reached a stage of maturity sufficient to be fully launched," said a French government source on Friday.

Read more on Barron's

That could keep the drug stocks from climbing higher, even as the political worries lift, at least for the companies with the most significant patent challenges.

Read more on Barron's