Word of the Day

Saturday December 12, 2009

politic [POL-ih-tik]

adjective

Of or pertaining to polity, or civil government; political; as, the body politic.
(Of persons) Sagacious in promoting a policy; ingenious in devising and advancing a system of management; devoted to a scheme or system rather than to a principle; hence shrewdly tactful, unscrupulous, cunning.
(Of things or actions) Pertaining to, or promoting, a policy, especially a national policy; as, a politic decision.

"Public corruption is a cancer on the body politic," said Ellis, who lamented that so many other congressmen have been convicted on similar charges. "There must be some sort of greed virus that attacks those in power."

Matthew Barakat, "Ex-congressman gets 13 years in freezer cash case Sentence is the longest given a U.S. lawmaker in a bribery scheme", Houston Chronicle, Nov 14, 2009
Vandaele says his first quaff was the international pilsner Stella Artois, Belgium's best-selling brand. It was a politic decision, as Vandaele is brand ambassador for InBev, the Leuven-based corporation that acquired Anheuser-Busch last year and markets 200 brands worldwide, including such Belgian staples as Stella, Hoegaarden and Leffe.

"To Belgium, they're knights in shining armor", The Washington Post, Oct 28, 2009
The main fact is that the work is being done. Whether it was necessary or politic to re-awaken by violence every sporting instinct of a sea-going people is a question which the enemy may have to consider later on. ?

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) A British author and poet. Sea Warfare (1916)

Origin of the Word

Politic, approximately 1600, derives from Middle French politique "political," from Latin politicus "of citizens or the state, civil, civic," from Geek politikos "of citizens or the state," from polites "citizen," from polis "city."?