Politics definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (19)

American Heritage Dictionary (9)

noun The art or science of government or governing, especially the governing of a political entity, such as a nation, and the administration and control of its internal and external affairs.
noun Political science.
noun The activities or affairs engaged in by a government, politician, or political party: "All politics is local” (Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr.) "Politics have appealed to me since I was at Oxford because they are exciting morning, noon, and night” (Jeffrey Archer).

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Century Dictionary (4)

The science or practice of government; the regulation and government of a nation or state for the preservation of its safety, peace, and prosperity. Politics, in its widest extent, is both the science and the art of government, or the science whose subject is the regulation of man in all his relations as the member of a state, and the application of this science. In other words, it is the theory and practice of obtaining the ends of civil society as perfectly as possible. The subjects which political science comprises have been arranged under the following heads: (1) natural law; (2) abstract politics—that is, the object or end of a state, and the relations between it and individual citizens; (3) political economy; (4) the science of police, or municipal regulation; (5) practical politics, or the conduct of the immediate public affairs of a state; (6) history of politics; (7) history of the political systems of foreign states; (8) statistics; (9) positive law relating to state affairs, commonly called constitutional law; (10) practical law of nations; (11) diplomacy; (12) the technical science of politics, or an acquaintance with the forms and style of public business in different countries. Hence the stress which Utilitarians are apt to lay on social and political activity of all kinds, and the tendency which Utilitarian ethics have always shewn to pass over into politics. H. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 459. Machiavelli … founded the science of politics for the modern world by concentrating thought upon its fundamental principles. Encyc. Brit., XV. 150.
In a narrower and more usual sense the art or vocation of guiding or influencing the policy of a government through the organization of a party among its citizens—including, therefore, not only the ethics of government, but more especially, and often to the exclusion of ethical principles, the art of influencing public opinion, attracting and marshaling voters, and obtaining and distributing public patronage, so far as the possession of offices may depend upon the political opinions or political services of individuals; hence, in an evil sense, the schemes and intrigues of political parties, or of cliques or individual politicians: as, the newspapers were full of politics. When we say that two men are talking politics, we often mean that they are wrangling about some mere party question. F. W. Robertson. I always hated politics in the ordinary sense of the word, and I am not likely to grow fonder of them. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., Int.
Political opinions; party connection or preference. Politics, like religion, are matters of faith on which reason says as little as possible. Froude, Sketches, p. 85.

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Before his election, I personally witnessed Rahm Emanuel, a rising star in American politics, say Barack is a Hebrew word and it means blessed, implying that the Jewish Americans should vote for him.
For some reason in American politics, the terms got switched. — digg.com: Stories / Popular
On the heels of the odious report by the State of Missouri, recently retracted, focusing on so-called "right-wing terrorism" and implying that every right of center group in American politics is an inch away from being terrorists, now we have a federal agency report doing the same thing. — Stop The ACLU
These days in American politics, the stars at night are big and bright (clap clap clap clap) deep in the heart of Texas. — digitallyOBSESSED.com DVD News and Reviews
If this deal succeeds, I predict it will become a transforming event in American politics -- exposing the deep deformities in our democracy and launching a tidal wave of righteous anger and popular rebellion. — amor mundi

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politics

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