Primary
''confederacy'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260331180822-00-⌔
confederacy - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
English
Noun
confederacy (plural confederacies)
- An alliance.
- (politics) A state where the sovereign constituent units delegate their authority to the centre.
- ✤ Synonym: confederation
- ✤ Coordinate terms: federation, supranational union
- 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.
Etymology
From Middle English confederacie, from Anglo-Norman confederacie, from Latin cōnfoederātiō. Doublet of confederation.
Pronunciation
- IPA: /kənˈfɛdəɹəsi/
- Audio (Southern England): 🔊
Printed 2026-06-28.
(echo:: @ ⌗)
Link to original
Secondary
• • •