# political
## English
### Alternative forms

* politicall (obsolete)

### Etymology

From politic +‎ -al.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /pəˈlɪtɪkəl/
* (US, Canada) IPA: /pəˈlɪtɪkəl/, [pəˈlɪɾɪkəl], /pəˈlɪtəkəl/, [pəˈlɪɾəkəl]
* Audio (US):(file)
* (General Australian) IPA: /pəˈlɪtɪkəl/, [pəˈlɪɾɪkəl]
* Hyphenation: po‧lit‧i‧cal

### Adjective

political (comparative more political, superlative most political)
* Concerning or relating 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.
** 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish, but I would not go out of my way to protest against it. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get. I would very gladly make mine over to him if I could.
** 2012 January, Philip E. Mirowski, “Harms to Health from the Pursuit of Profits”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 87:In an era when political leaders promise deliverance from decline through America’s purported preeminence in scientific research, the news that science is in deep trouble in the United States has been as unwelcome as a diagnosis of leukemia following the loss of health insurance.
** 2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in New York Times‎:That brief moment after the election four years ago, when many Americans thought Mr. Obama’s election would presage a new, less fractious political era, now seems very much a thing of the past.
* 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.
* (derogatory) Motivated, especially inappropriately, by political (electoral; or, more generally, power, standing, influence or conflict) calculation.
* Of or relating to views about social relationships that involve power, standing, influence or conflict.
* (of a person) Interested in politics.

#### Synonyms

* politic

#### Antonyms

* nonpolitical, non-political

#### Derived terms

* aeropolitical
* antipolitical
* apolitical
* astropolitical
* biopolitical
* cyberpolitical
* econopolitical
* ecopolitical
* ethicopolitical
* ethnopolitical
* Europolitical
* extrapolitical
* genopolitical
* geopolitical
* historicopolitical
* hyperpolitical
* ideopolitical
* impolitical
* infrapolitical
* interpolitical
* juridicopolitical
* juridico-political
* macropolitical
* macro-socio-political
* megapolitical
* metapolitical
* micropolitical
* necropolitical
* neuropolitical
* new political thinking
* parapolitical
* party political
* party political broadcast
* petropolitical
* political agent
* political animal
* political arithmetic
* political asylum
* political blackness
* political capital
* political cartoon
* political cartoonist
* political climate
* political commissar
* political consumerism
* political correction
* political correctness
* political corrector
* political-economic
* political economist
* political economy
* political entity
* politicalese
* political football
* political geography
* political homelessness
* political incorrectness
* politicalism
* politicality
* politicalize
* political lesbian
* political lesbianism
* politically
* politically correct
* political machine
* political machinery
* political map
* political marketing
* politicalness
* political officer
* political opposition
* political party
* political price fixing
* political prisoner
* political regime
* political risk
* political science
* political scientist
* politicalspeak
* political spectrum
* political system
* political unit
* political vacuum
* politicide
* politicore
* postpolitical
* power-political
* prepolitical
* pseudopolitical
* psychopolitical
* religiopolitical
* semipolitical
* socio-political
* sociopolitical
* socio-political-economic
* superpolitical
* technopolitical
* telepolitical
* theopolitical
* unpolitical

#### Related terms

* politician
* politicize
* politick
* politico

#### Descendants

* → Hindi: पोलितिकल (politikal)

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Noun

political (plural politicals)
* A political agent or officer.
** 1990, Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game, Folio Society, published 2010, page 265:One such officer was Count Nikolai Ignatiev, a brilliant and ambitious political, who enjoyed the ear of the Tsar and burned to settle his country's scores with the British.
* A publication focusing on politics.

### References

* “political”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
* political in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
* “political”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.