politic
po·li·tic
adjective
1.
marked by artful prudence, expedience, and shrewdness
- “it is neither polite nor politic to get into other people”
- “;”
- “;”
- “;”
- “;”
2.
smoothly agreeable and courteous with a degree of sophistication
- “he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage”
- “the hostess averted a confrontation between two guests with a diplomatic change of subject”
- “the manager pacified the customer with a smooth apology for the error”
- “affable, suave, moderate men...smugly convinced of their respectability” Ezra Pound
Origin
From Middle French politique, from Latin politicus, from Ancient Greek πολιτικός (politikós), from πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”). Cognate with German politisch (“political”). Doublet of politico.
Phrases
- body politic
Related words
Word family
See also
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.