Adjective

political (comparative more political, superlative most political)

Positive political

Comparative more political

Superlative most political

1. concerning or related to politics, the art and process of governing

   Political principles are rarely absolute, as political logic holds an imperfect result by compromise is better than a theoretically perfect abstention from the political process in the opposition

2. concerning a polity or its administrative components

   Good political staff is hard to find, they may neither be ambitious and corrupted by power nor tempted by private sector careers

3. (pejorative) motivated, especially inappropriately, by political (electoral or other party political) calculation
4. of or related to views about social relationships that involve power or authority

Synonyms

• politic

Antonyms

• nonpolitical

Derived terms

• politically
• political agent
• political animal
• political asylum
• political economy
• political party
• political prisoner
• party political
• politically correct
• sociopolitical

Related terms

• politician
• politicize
• politick
• politico

Politics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions. It consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy.

The word "Politics" comes from the Greek word Πολιτικά (politika) from politic (adj.), modeled on Aristotle's "affairs of state," the name of his book on governing and governments, which was rendered in English mid-15 century as Latinised "Polettiques." In Latin, this was "politicus" and in French "politique". Thus it became "politics" in Middle English (see the Concise Oxford Dictionary).

History

From a historical perspective, societies in need of government have moved from the primitive to the patriarchal state and finally to the military, the real politics of modern times. The origin and development of government institutions is the most visible subject for the study of Politics and its history.