confederacy

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

Definition of confederacy

plural confederacies

1 :a league or compact for mutual support or common action :alliance

2 :a combination of persons for unlawful purposes :conspiracy

3 :the body formed by persons, states, or nations united by a league; specifically, capitalized :the 11 southern states seceding from the U.S. in 1860 and 1861

See confederacy defined for English-language learners

See confederacy defined for kids

Examples of confederacy in a Sentence

a confederacy of native tribes
the last state to join the Confederacy

Recent Examples of confederacy from the Web

Durham, N.C. (AP) -- Duke University removed a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee early Saturday after it was vandalized amid a national debate about monuments to the Confederacy.

— Bloomberg.com, "Duke University Removes Damaged Robert E. Lee Statue," 19 Aug. 2017
Yet Mr. Northam has little appetite to make Virginia’s counties and cities uproot their memorials to the Confederacy and says the decision should remain up to the localities.

— jonathan martin, New York Times, "Charlottesville and Trump’s Response Reshape Virginia Gubernatorial Race," 19 Aug. 2017
His father, a druggist, was the town's mayor and negotiated with Union troops as the war broke badly for the Confederacy.

— mark jacob, chicagotribune.com, "How a former Chicago office boy built Charlottesville's Gen. Lee statue," 18 Aug. 2017
In recent years, state legislatures and city governments beyond Virginia have been forced to respond to the demands of activists who insist that tributes to the Confederacy have no place in 21st-century public space.

— lindsey e. jones, Teen Vogue, "Just Calling the White Nationalists at Charlottesville "Nazis" Erases America's Own Racism," 18 Aug. 2017
But to love the Confederacy is to side with murderers, rapists, child abusers and thieves.

— virgie townsend, Harper's BAZAAR, "I Am a Descendant of Slaveholders. Charlottesville Demands My Honesty About White Supremacy.," 17 Aug. 2017
Richmond, which is 65 miles east of Charlottesville and the former capital of the Confederacy, is home to the infamous Monument Avenue, the future of which is under review and a growing flashpoint of controversy.

— nell boeschenstein, Longreads, "These Are the Locals Who Get The Story of Charlottesville Right," 17 Aug. 2017
The white supremacists could also sense that it was easily overwhelmed, unlike Richmond, the more diverse and sprawling true capital of the Confederacy, where Spencer and his ilk promise to visit in September.

— sarah ellison, The Hive, "Why Charlottesville, Liberal College Town, Became Ground Zero for White Supremacy," 15 Aug. 2017
That leaves the imagery of the Confederacy—the apostates of the American civic faith—as the most accessible wellspring of symbolic power.

— matt ford, The Atlantic, "The Statues of Unliberty," 14 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'confederacy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of confederacy

14th century

confederacy Synonyms

Synonyms

alliance, axis, bloc, block, coalition, combination, combine, confederation, federation, league, union

Related Words

cabal, conspiracy, junto; cartel, syndicate, trust; faction, front, fusion, side, wing; association, group, organization; affiliation, cooperative, partnership; circuit, conference

Other History Terms

agonistic, carpetbagger, enceinte, fief, historiography, paladin

CONFEDERACY Defined for English Language Learners

confederacy

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noun

Definition of confederacy for English Language Learners

: a group of people, countries, organizations, etc., that are joined together in some activity or effort
the Confederacy : the group of 11 southern states that separated themselves from the U.S. during the American Civil War