Adjacent Words

Confederacy definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CONFEDERACY, n. [L., a league. See Federal and Wed.]
1. A league, or covenant; a contract between two or more persons, bodies of men or states, combined in support of each other, in some act or enterprise; mutual engagement; federal compact.
The friendships of the world are oft confederacies in vice. A confederacy of princes to check innovation.
2. The persons, states or nations united by a league.
Virgil has a whole confederacy against him.
3. In law, a combination of two or more persons to commit an unlawful act.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the southern states that seceded from the United States in 1861 [syn: Confederacy, Confederate States, Confederate States of America, South, Dixie, Dixieland]
2: a union of political organizations [syn: confederation, confederacy, federation]
3: a group of conspirators banded together to achieve some harmful or illegal purpose [syn: conspiracy, confederacy]
4: a secret agreement between two or more people to perform an unlawful act [syn: conspiracy, confederacy]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -cies) Date: 14th century 1. a league or compact for mutual support or common action ; alliance 2. a combination of persons for unlawful purposes ; conspiracy 3. the body formed by persons, states, or nations united by a league; specifically capitalized the 11 southern states seceding from the United States in 1860 and 1861

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a league or alliance, esp. of confederate States. 2 a league for an unlawful or evil purpose; a conspiracy. 3 the condition or fact of being confederate; alliance; conspiracy. Etymology: ME, AF, OF confederacie (as confederate)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Confederacy Con*fed"er*a*cy, n. (Amer. Hist.) With the, the Confederate States of America.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Confederacy Con*fed"er*a*cy, n.; pl. Confederacies. [From Confederate, a.] 1. A league or compact between two or more persons, bodies of men, or states, for mutual support or common action; alliance. The friendships of the world are oft Confederacies in vice or leagues of pleasure. --Addison. He hath heard of our confederacy. --Shak. Virginia promoted a confederacy. --Bancroft. 2. The persons, bodies, states, or nations united by a league; a confederation. The Grecian common wealth, . . . the most heroic confederacy that ever existed. --Harris. Virgil has a whole confederacy against him. --Dryden. 3. (Law) A combination of two or more persons to commit an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means. See Conspiracy. Syn: League; compact; alliance; association; union; combination; confederation.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(confederacies) A confederacy is a union of states or people who are trying to achieve the same thing. They've entered this new confederacy because the central government's been unable to control the collapsing economy. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Confederation (especially of independent states), federation, league, coalition, alliance, union, federal compact.

Moby Thesaurus

Anschluss, Bund, Rochdale cooperative, addition, affiliation, agglomeration, aggregation, agreement, alignment, alliance, amalgamation, anschluss, artifice, assemblage, assimilation, association, axis, band, blend, blending, bloc, body, cabal, cahoots, cartel, centralization, coadunation, coalescence, coalition, colleagueship, college, collegialism, collegiality, collusion, combination, combine, combo, common market, complicity, complot, composition, comradeship, confederation, confraternity, congeries, conglomeration, conjugation, conjunction, connivance, consolidation, conspiracy, consumer cooperative, contrivance, contriving, cooperative, cooperative society, copartnership, copartnery, corps, council, counterplot, covin, credit union, customs union, deep-laid plot, economic community, ecumenism, embodiment, encompassment, engineering, enosis, federalization, federation, fellowship, finagling, finesse, frame-up, fraternalism, fraternity, fraternization, free trade area, freemasonry, fusion, game, gang, group, grouping, hookup, inclusion, incorporation, integration, intrigue, junction, junta, league, little game, machination, machine, maneuvering, manipulation, marriage, meld, melding, merger, mob, package, package deal, partnership, plot, plotting, political machine, rigging, ring, scheme, schemery, scheming, society, sodality, solidification, sorority, stratagem, syncretism, syndication, syneresis, synthesis, tie-in, tie-up, trick, underplot, unification, union, web of intrigue, wedding, wire-pulling