Added 9 October 2026
confederacy
/kənˈfɛdəɹəsi/ noun
Latin root: cōnfoederātiō Wiktionary
noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about confederacy at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
- An alliance.
- A state where the sovereign constituent units delegate their authority to the centre.
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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.
Origin
From Middle English confederacie, from Anglo-Norman confederacie, from Latin cōnfoederātiō. Doublet of confederation.
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)