Politic
['pɒlɪtɪk] or ['pɑlətɪk]
Definition
(adj.) smoothly agreeable and courteous with a degree of sophistication; 'he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage'; 'the manager pacified the customer with a smooth apology for the error' .
(adj.) marked by artful prudence, expedience, and shrewdness; 'it is neither polite nor politic to get into other people's quarrels'; 'a politic decision'; 'a politic manager'; 'a politic old scoundrel'; 'a shrewd and politic reply' .
Inputed by Davis--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of or pertaining to polity, or civil government; political; as, the body politic. See under Body.
(a.) Pertaining to, or promoting, a policy, especially a national policy; well-devised; adapted to its end, whether right or wrong; -- said of things; as, a politic treaty.
(a.) Sagacious in promoting a policy; ingenious in devising and advancing a system of management; devoted to a scheme or system rather than to a principle; hence, in a good sense, wise; prudent; sagacious; and in a bad sense, artful; unscrupulous; cunning; -- said of persons.
(n.) A politician.
Typist: Trevor
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Civil, political, CIVIC.[2]. Wise, prudent, judicious, discreet, sagacious, prudential, wary, provident.[3]. Artful, cunning, shrewd, intriguing, sly, wily, subtle, foxy, Machiavelian.
Checked by Hugo
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Prudent, wise, sagacious, provident, diplomatic, judicious, cunning, wary,well_devised, discreet
ANT:Imprudent, unwise, improvident, undiplomatic, impolitic
Checker: Lowell
Definition
adj. pertaining to policy: well-devised: judicious in management: skilled in political affairs: prudent: discreet: cunning: (Shak.) concerned with politics.—adj. Polit′ical pertaining to polity or government: pertaining to nations or to parties in a nation who differ in their views of how it ought to be governed: derived from government.—adv. Polit′ically.—ns. Polit′icaster (Milt.) a petty politician; Politic′ian one versed in or devoted to politics: a man of artifice and cunning.—adj. (Milt.) politic.—adv. Pol′iticly.—n.sing. Pol′itics the art or science of government: the management of a political party: political affairs or opinions.—adj. Pol′itique (Bacon) political civil.—n. Pol′ity the constitution of the government of a state or an institution: civil constitution: a body of people arranged under a system of government.—Political economy the science which treats of the production distribution and consumption of wealth; Political science the science or study of government as to its principles aims methods &c.—Body politic the whole body of a people as constituting a state.
Editor: Timmy
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
Typist: Zamenhof
Examples
- But your slave is politic. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Fred paused an instant, and then added, in politic appeal to his uncle's vanity, That is hardly a thing for a gentleman to ask. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It was also politic, as leaving you with something overhanging you, to expect me again with a little anxiety on a day not named. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I should be sorry to imply that Mr. Skimpole divined this and was politic; I really never understood him well enough to know. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- First then, of wisdom: the State which we have called into being will be wise because politic. Plato. The Republic.
- Farewell to courtly pleasure; to politic intrigue; to the maze of passion and folly! Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- I do it because it's politic; I do it on principle. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- By Heaven, madame, politic! Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I have called this misplaced rationality a piece of learned folly, because it shows itself most dangerously among those thinkers about politics who are divorced from action. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But instead of narrowing the scope of politics, to avoid it, the only sensible thing to do is to invent methods which will allow needs and problems and group interests avenues into politics. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Anyone who has had the smallest experience of municipal politics knows that the corruption of the police is directly proportionate to the severity of the taboos it is asked to enforce. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But all was not well, and, as has happened so often before, the politics of father and son were violently different. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- There is a great deal of literal truth in that remark, for it has been the peculiar work of Bryan to express in politics some of that emotion which has made America the home of new religions. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But genuine politics is not an inhuman task. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- There is no need, therefore, to generate dialectical disputes about the final goal of politics. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- I am attempting to suggest some of the essentials of a statesman's equipment for the work of a humanly centered politics. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Every one in polite circles knew that, in America, a gentleman couldn't go into politics. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- These fine differences about the constitution of the Deity interwove with politics and international disputes. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- But politics was a personal drama without meaning or a vague abstraction without substance. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- In both the Republic and Statesman a close connection is maintained between Politics and Dialectic. Plato. The Republic.
- The americans have no troublesome Neighbors, they are without foreign Possessions, and do not want the alliance of any Nation, for this Reason they have nothing to do with foreign Politics. Rupert S. Holland. Historic Inventions.
- This is as true of the high politics of Isaiah as it is of the ward boss. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Politics, business, recreation, art, science, the learned professions, polite intercourse, leisure, represent such interests. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
Edited by Griffith