confederacy

noun

con·​fed·​er·​a·​cy kən-ˈfe-d(ə-)rə-sē 

plural confederacies

1

: a group of people, countries, organizations, etc. joined together for a common purpose or by a common interest : league, alliance

The artists came together as a confederacy of craftsmen a few years ago with the notion that, at least in the realm of marketing and getting the public's attention, there is power in numbers.

—Wallace Baine

… as audiences splinter into increasingly antagonistic confederacies, finding images and themes which speak to a shared human condition can be a daunting task.

—Brian Gable

also : a group of people working together for unlawful purposes : conspiracy

… a corrupt confederacy of pimps, profiteers and putzes with an instinct for ignorance and ill will.

—Mark Kriegel

2

a

: an entity (see entity sense 3) formed by a confederacy of nations, states, etc.

"It was the first time I heard about the Iroquois Confederacy culture," she [Marj Stevens] said. … The constitution of this confederacy served as the basis for the U.S. Constitution.

—Frank Vaisvilas

b

the Confederacy in U.S. history : the 11 southern states of the United States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, and later also the states of Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia) during their secession from the United States between 1860 and 1865

Synonyms of confederacy

• union
• alliance
• coalition
• confederation
• federation
• league

Examples of confederacy in a Sentence

a confederacy of native tribes

the last state to join the Confederacy

Recent Examples on the Web

Long before settlers came to the Americas, there was a confederacy and governance system between three tribes: the Ottawa, the Ojibwe and the Potawatomi. —J.m. Banks, Kansas City Star, 25 Oct. 2025

The confederacy of tribes was pressured into ceding lands to the state of New York, and further displaced by ensuing frontier settlement. —Matthew Smith, The Conversation, 20 Oct. 2025

Many people believe the confederacy influenced the drafters of the U.S. Constitution. —Eva Roytburg, Fortune, 11 Oct. 2025

The clouds are as much a character in Murphy’s work as the cowboys, though the former are unchanged since the Oceti Sakowin first formed their confederacy. —Casey Cep, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

confederacy

noun

con·​fed·​er·​a·​cy kən-ˈfed-(ə-)rə-sē 

plural confederacies

: a league of persons, parties, or states : alliance