polity
noun
pol·i·ty ˈpä-lə-tē 
plural polities
1
: political organization
2
: a specific form of political organization
3
: a politically organized unit
4
a
: the form or constitution of a politically organized unit
b
: the form of government of a religious denomination
Example Sentences
the polities of medieval Italy
Recent Examples on the Web Critics of the war argued that the US could not create a polity in its own image on the far side of the world. 
Fintan O’toole, The New York Review of Books, 21 Sep. 2021 Its characterizing institutions were churches whose polity was radically democratic—autonomous, self-governing congregations that elected their clergy and could cast them out. Marilynne Robinson, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022 By then, however, this exceptional polity had already existed through purchase. WSJ, 19 June 2022 The idea that America is a uniquely awful, sinful country is every bit as navel-gazing, self-centered, and harmful to the national polity as the conception of the United States as a uniquely good—or even Godly—nation. Parker Richards, The New Republic, 17 Mar. 2022 In the sixteen-hundreds, the Cossacks, the traditional warrior polity, which was at the center of what Ukraine is today, attached themselves to the Russians. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2022 One senses a growing mutual exasperation in America — something verging on disgust at the prospect of having to share rule, and even a common polity, with them. Damon Linker, The Week, 4 June 2021 This is due to the mismanagement of the economy and lack of political reforms and restructuring in our Sri Lankan polity. Anusha Ondaatjie, Bloomberg.com, 19 Apr. 2022 All the while, Orban presides over a Hungarian polity in the heart of Europe that would be familiar to a strongman like Putin. Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2022 See More
Fintan O’toole, The New York Review of Books, 21 Sep. 2021 Its characterizing institutions were churches whose polity was radically democratic—autonomous, self-governing congregations that elected their clergy and could cast them out. Marilynne Robinson, Harper’s Magazine , 20 July 2022 By then, however, this exceptional polity had already existed through purchase. WSJ, 19 June 2022 The idea that America is a uniquely awful, sinful country is every bit as navel-gazing, self-centered, and harmful to the national polity as the conception of the United States as a uniquely good—or even Godly—nation. Parker Richards, The New Republic, 17 Mar. 2022 In the sixteen-hundreds, the Cossacks, the traditional warrior polity, which was at the center of what Ukraine is today, attached themselves to the Russians. Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2022 One senses a growing mutual exasperation in America — something verging on disgust at the prospect of having to share rule, and even a common polity, with them. Damon Linker, The Week, 4 June 2021 This is due to the mismanagement of the economy and lack of political reforms and restructuring in our Sri Lankan polity. Anusha Ondaatjie, Bloomberg.com, 19 Apr. 2022 All the while, Orban presides over a Hungarian polity in the heart of Europe that would be familiar to a strongman like Putin. Washington Post, 3 Apr. 2022 See More Word History
Etymology
probably borrowed from Late Latin polītīa "citizenship, political organization, constitution of a state, administrative direction," with ending conformed to -ity — more at police entry 1
First Known Use
1538, in the meaning defined at sense 1