confederacy

See also: Confederacy

English

Alternative forms

• confœderacy (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English confederacie, from Anglo-Norman confederacie, from Latin cōnfoederātiō. Doublet of confederation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kənˈfɛdəɹəsi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

confederacy (plural confederacies)

1. An alliance.
2. (politics) A state where the sovereign constituent units delegate their authority to the centre. As opposed to a federation, where the central and regional governments are each equal and sovereign in their own sphere.
3. Specifically, an instance of a decentralized governing structure among the indigenous peoples of North America.

   The Blackfoot, Iroquois, and Sioux peoples all were governed as confederacies. There were also multi-ethnic confederacies, such as the Iron Confederacy made up of the Plains Cree, Assiniboine, Stoney, and Saulteaux.

Translations

an alliance

• Catalan: confederació (ca) f
• Danish: konføderation c
• French: confédération (fr) f
• German: Konföderation (de)
• Italian: confederazione (it) f
• Portuguese: confederação (pt) f
• Romanian: confederație (ro) f
• Spanish: confederación (es) f

a decentralized state made up of sovereign units — see confederation