policy
//ˈpɒl.ə.si//
Forms
- Plural
- policies
- present (v1)
- policy
- past (v2)
- policied
- past participle (v3)
- policied
- present participle
- policying
- 3rd person singular
- policies
Definitions
1.A principle of behaviour, conduct which an entity (government, organization, etc.) applies or seeks to follow, especially as formally expressed by an authoritative body.
- The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.
- It's company policy that all mobile phones are forbidden in meetings.
- Federal policy is constructed in complex ways, involving legislation, regulation, and lobbying.
2.Wise, advantageous, or politic conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness.
3.The grounds of a large country house.
- The house and its policies (grounds) lie between what were once two or three separate hamlets.
- Next morning was so splendid that as he walked through the policies towards the mansion house despair itself was lulled.
4.A document describing such a policy.
- Please print extra copies of this policy and post them where it will be easy for everyone to see.
1.To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
Frequency
Overall
Very common· #406
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Common
- General reading & writing
- Very common
- Academic
- Common
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English policie, from Old French policie, pollicie and police, from Late Latin politia (“citizenship; government”), classical Latin polītīa (in Cicero), from Ancient Greek πολιτεία (politeía, “citizenship; polis, (city) state; government”), from πολίτης (polítēs, “citizen”).