# political

Pronunciation: say "puh-LIT-i-kuhl" /pəˈlɪtɪkəl/

## Adjective

1. Relating to politics and government, or to a state and the units it is divided into for governing.
   - Simple: Relating to politics, government, or how a country and its regions are organized and run.
   - _She avoids political discussions at family dinners._
   - _The senator built his political career on education reform._
2. Motivated by self-interested political calculation (concern with elections, power dynamics, or ideology) rather than by merit or fairness; used disapprovingly.
   - Simple: A critical way to say something was done to win votes, gain power or push beliefs, not for good reasons.
   - _The judge's supporters dismissed the investigation as purely political._
   - _The governor insists the timing of the highway grants was not political, though they were announced a week before the vote._
3. Interested in politics.
   - Simple: Interested in politics and in talking or thinking about it.
   - _She comes from a deeply political family that argues about elections at every holiday._
   - _He was never political until the factory closures pushed him to organize._
4. Concerning ideas about power, status, influence, or conflict within relationships between people or groups.
   - Simple: About power between people and groups: who has it and how it is used.
   - _Hiring decisions are deeply political, shaped by who holds influence in the company._
   - _She argues that fashion is political, signaling status and group identity._

## Noun

5. A person imprisoned for political offenses or beliefs; a political prisoner.
   - Simple: A person kept in prison because of their political beliefs or actions.
   - _He spent six years as a political before the amnesty._
   - _In the camp, politicals and ordinary criminals were housed in separate barracks._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An agent or officer who handles political affairs on behalf of a government.
- (noun) A publication, such as a magazine or journal, that focuses on politics.

## Origin

Formed from "politic" combined with the suffix "-al".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/political (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).