Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A usually expansionist national policy having as its sole principle advancement of the national interest.
Wiktionary
- n. politics Pragmatic international government policy concerned with perceived interests of the nation.
WordNet 3.0
- n. politics based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations
Etymologies
- Borrowing from German Realpolitik. (Wiktionary)
- German : real, practical (from Late Latin reālis, real; see real1) + Politik, politics (from French politique, political, policy; see politic). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term realpolitik was coined by Prussian Prince Otto von Bismarck, who defined politics as "the art of the possible.”
Forbes: Murdoch, Hillary Alliance May Change Political Rules
“Stalin, Chamberlain, and Daladier thought they were engaged in realpolitik at the time.”
“Ultimately, the paradox of realpolitik is that realpolitik assumes and is dependent upon the notion that states are rational actors, and yet the practice of realpolitik tends to erode that very principle.”
“KOUCHNER: The word realpolitik is a little pejorative.”
“In the Iran-Iraq War, short-term realpolitik considerations and factionalism within the administration led the United States to tilt toward Iran, then Iraq, back and forth again and again while secretly arming both sides.”
“Or the pragmatism and commercial interests that today we call realpolitik?”
“Many young people today don't remember the days of "realpolitik" - the idea, popular during the Cold War, that America's foreign policy should be based on our national interest and not on ideology, meaning we supported dictators who liked us without regard to how they treated their people.”
“She’s never voted against “the party” (how realpolitik is that phrase?)”
Why front-line police officers are glad about Dizaei « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG
“But the president operates in realpolitik, which is what are the hazards here of coming out too strongly?”
“I don't have a problem with neo-con views of foreign affairs personally, nor do I think it's wrong to support a country that has lots of oil pipelines in it, it's called realpolitik and it's the way the world has worked for centuries.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘realpolitik’.
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POL - cool compounds
scaremongering, facelifting, mudslinging, gerrymandering, goldplating, muscleflexing, headway, pinpointing, hobby-horse, barnstorming, grandfathering, finger-wagging and 31 more...
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*CVk
...where C is any consonant and V is any vowel.
trek, flak, anorak, fartlek, lek, beatnik, realpolitik, amok, mukluk, Wordnik, springbok, kulak and 3 more...
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jaradgiese's Words
paronomasia, ostensible, insouciant, sobriquet, burlesque, insalubrious, apotheosis, hyperbole, connubial, felicity, florid, conurbation and 642 more...
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Mat8iou's interesting words
Words I've come across & want to remember.
bloviation, elginism, panegyric, infandous, boke, pangram, quine, pareto principle, panopticon, snib, escutcheon, bokeh and 129 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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exlotuseater's Words
autocthonous, anacoluthon, benthic, bactrian, caryatid, chiastic, dryad, dromedary, effulgent, elixir, fricative, fungible and 145 more...
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rfb's Words
verschlimmbessern, schnabulieren, absahnen, gebauchpinselt, frostbeule, formulediarree, flabbergasted, beeumeln, schmusekater, hausse, dose, knorke and 197 more...
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BonMots
assiduous, progeny, hegemony, nascent, reticent, ephemera, zeitgeist, recalcitrant, copious, corporeal, cacaphonous, obstreperous and 108 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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annscann's list
My words, generally
bavarois, bawbee, bawd, bawdry, libertine, russophobe, rubicund, gossamer, persnickety, claptrap, gesticulate, schadenfreudian and 199 more...
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Words!
expiate, litote, quixotic, expectorant, brakish, animadversion, militated, garish, rrulous, desiderate, desiderata, desideratum and 131 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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Evin290's Words
puerile, fastidious, blatherskite, folderol, femtosecond, redox, incarnadine, cerulean, genuflection, muslin, multitudinous, miasma and 517 more...
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"Words, words, words."
abase, abject, abstruse, adjutant, altercation, altruistic, angst, anodyne, anomie, ape, apprehensive, aquiline and 310 more...
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Speaking in Tongues - an REM list
Words heard in various REM songs that I enjoy and that I think are indicative of the band. Not too literally, of course.
pilgrimage, pageant, suspicion, penitence, gentlemen, chronic, stigma, deadlier, transit, fortunate, momentum, misconstrued and 162 more...
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Words I thought I knew, but really di...
acclivity, adduce, adumbrate, animadversion, assonance, atavistic, bagatelle, bromide, buncombe, canard, categorical, cavil and 145 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for realpolitik.
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