POLITIC • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Politic

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/pˈɑlətˌɪk/ Listen

noun

Politic n. A politician. (Archaic) "Swiftly the politic goes; is it dark? he borrows a lantern; Slowly the statesman and sure, guiding his feet by the stars."

adjective

Politic adj.

Of or pertaining to polity, or civil government; political; as, the body politic. See under Body. "He with his people made all but one politic body."

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. "Enrich'd with politic grave counsel."

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. "Politic with my friend, smooth with mine enemy."

Synonyms: Wise; prudent; sagacious; discreet; provident; wary; artful; cunning.

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Etymology of 'Politic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Politic" Quotes from Famous Books

... space, and better food than any shipowner across the water. They give me any mortal thing for my engines except time to overhaul them. The newspapers tell me they're a blood-sucking trust battening on the body-politic, and so on. Personally ..." and Mr. Carville drew the stopper from a square bottle, "personally, I find them very decent people ...

— Aliens • William McFee

... beginnings of a New France in the West. Incessant dynastic wars with near neighbors, the final throes of the long struggle between the crown and the great vassals, and finally the religious wars that culminated in the awful slaughter of St. Bartholomew's, and ended at the close of the century with the politic conversion and the coronation of Henry IV.—these were among the causes that had held back the great nation from distant undertakings. But thoughts of great things to be achieved in the New World had never for long at a time been absent from the minds of Frenchmen. The annual visits of the Breton ...

— A History of American Christianity • Leonard Woolsey Bacon

... the remittances must be made to several, on which I will give you my opinion in my next. A number of gentlemen of rank and fortune, who have seen service, and have good characters, are desirous of serving the United Colonies, and have applied; pray let me have orders on this subject; if it be politic to interest this kingdom in the present contest, what way so effectual as to get into their debt for supplies, and employ persons of good family and connexions in it, in our service? I have given encouragement, on which some are prepared to ...

— The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. I • Various

... his prey; the spoiler swallows up his victim, and thus they become one and indivisible. Thus has great Britain swallowed up the Parliament, the constitution, the independence of Ireland, and refuses to disgorge even a single privilege, although for the relief of her swollen and distempered body politic. ...

— The Works of Lord Byron: Letters and Journals, Volume 2. • Lord Byron

... he received from Queen Blanche, his mother. That is overstepping the limits of that education and of her influence. Queen Blanche, though a firm believer and steadfastly pious, was a stranger to enthusiasm, and too discreet and too politic to make it the dominating principle of her son's life any more than of her own. The truth of the matter is that, by her watchfulness and her exactitude in morals, she helped to impress upon her son the great Christian ...

— A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times - Volume II. of VI. • Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

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