Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a confederacy; an ally.
  • noun One who assists in a plot; an accomplice. synonym: partner.
  • noun A supporter of the Confederate States of America.
  • adjective United in a confederacy; allied.
  • adjective Of or having to do with the Confederate States of America.
  • transitive & intransitive verb To form into or become part of a confederacy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To unite in a league or alliance; join in a mutual contract or covenant.
  • To cause to unite in a league; ally.
  • United in a league; allied by compact or treaty; engaged in a confederacy; leagued; pertaining to a confederacy.
  • Specifically [capitalized] Pertaining to the Confederate States of America: as, the Confederate government or army.
  • noun One who is united or banded with another or others in a compact or league; a person or nation engaged in a confederacy; an ally; an associate; an accomplice.
  • noun Specifically A citizen or subject of one of a number of confederated states; specifically (with a capital), a citizen or soldier of any one of the southern States of the American Union which formed the Confederate States of America, who participated in or sympathized with the attempt to destroy the Union by secession and the prosecution of the civil war.
  • noun Synonyms Friend, Companion, etc. (see associate), accomplice, accessory, abetter, fellow-conspirator.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective United in a league; allied by treaty; engaged in a confederacy; banded together; allied.
  • adjective (Amer. Hist.) Of or pertaining to the government of the eleven Southern States of the United States which (1860-1865) attempted to establish an independent nation styled the Confederate States of America.
  • transitive verb To unite in a league or confederacy; to ally.
  • intransitive verb To unite in a league; to join in a mutual contract or covenant; to band together.
  • noun One who is united with others in a league; a person or a nation engaged in a confederacy; an ally; also, an accomplice in a bad sense.
  • noun (Amer. Hist.) A name designating an adherent to the cause of the States which attempted to withdraw from the Union (1860-1865).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a member of a confederacy
  • noun an accomplice in a plot
  • noun psychology An actor who participates in a psychological experiment pretending to be a subject but in actuality working for the researcher (also known as a 'stooge').
  • adjective of, relating to, or united in a confederacy
  • adjective banded together; allied.
  • verb To combine into a confederacy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a supporter of the Confederate States of America
  • adjective of or having to do with the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War
  • verb form a group or unite
  • noun someone who assists in a plot
  • adjective united in a confederacy or league
  • noun a person who joins with another in carrying out some plan (especially an unethical or illegal plan)
  • verb form a confederation with; of nations

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English confederat, allied, from Late Latin cōnfoederātus, past participle of cōnfoederāre, to unite : Latin com-, com- + Latin foederāre, to unite (from foedus, foeder-, league; see bheidh- in Indo-European roots).]

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