confederation

C3O1N1F4E1D2E1R1A1T1I1O1N1
/kənfɛdəˈɹeɪʃən/

noun

A union or alliance of states or political organizations.

Less commonScrabble 19

Meanings

confederation1

nounconfederation (plural confederations)

plural confederations · alternative obsolete confœderation

  1. A union or alliance of states or political organizations.

    Synonyms: alliance, confederacy, federation, league

  2. The act of forming an alliance.

Confederation2

proper nounthe Confederation
  1. In Canada, the federal union of provinces and territories which formed Canada, initially New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec, and later including all the others.
    1. In Canada, the date of Confederation: July 1, 1867.
    1. In Newfoundland, the date of Confederation: March 31, 1949.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA union or alliance of states or political organizations.

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe state of being allied or confederated

Similar

nouna union of political organizations

Broader

nounthe act of forming an alliance or confederation

Similar

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latincōnfoederātiō
  2. Old Frenchconfederacion
  3. Middle Frenchconfédération
  4. Middle Englishconfederacion
  5. Englishconfederation

From Middle English confederacion, confideracion and Middle French confédération, from Old French confederacion, from Latin cōnfoederātiō. Doublet of confederacy.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans konfederasie
  • konfederasieunion or alliance
Arabic كُونْفِدِرَالِيَّة
  • كُونْفِدِرَالِيَّة (kūnfidirāliyya)union or alliance
Bengali পরিসংঘ, মিত্রসংঘ
  • পরিসংঘ (poriśoṅgho)union or alliance
  • মিত্রসংঘ (mitrośoṅgho)union or alliance
Bulgarian конфедера́ция
  • конфедера́ция (konfederácija)union or alliance
Catalan confederació
  • confederacióunion or alliance
Chinese Mandarin 邦聯 /邦联
  • 邦聯 /邦联 (bānglián)union or alliance
Czech konfederace
  • konfederaceunion or alliance
Danish konføderation
  • konføderationunion or alliance
Dutch statenbond, confederatie
  • statenbondunion or alliance
  • confederatieunion or alliance
Estonian konföderatsioon
  • konföderatsioonunion or alliance
Finnish liitto, valtioliitto
  • liittounion or alliance
  • valtioliittounion or alliance
  • konfederaatiounion or alliance
  • liittoutuminenact
French confédération, Confédération
  • confédérationunion or alliance
  • ConfédérationTranslations
German Bund, Bündnis
  • Bundunion or alliance
  • Bündnisunion or alliance
  • Konföderationunion or alliance
  • Eidgenossenschaftunion or alliance
  • Staatenbundunion or alliance
  • Staatenbündnisunion or alliance
Greek συνομοσπονδία, κοινόν
  • συνομοσπονδία (synomospondía)union or alliance
  • κοινόν (koinón)union or alliance
  • ένωση (énosi)union or alliance
Hebrew קוֹנְפֶדֶרַצְיָה
  • קוֹנְפֶדֶרַצְיָה (konfederátsya)union or alliance
Hindi परिसंघ
  • परिसंघ (parisaṅgh)union or alliance
Hungarian konföderáció, államszövetség
  • konföderációunion or alliance
  • államszövetségunion or alliance
Icelandic samband, bandalag
  • sambandunion or alliance
  • bandalagunion or alliance
Indonesian konfederasi
  • konfederasiunion or alliance
Irish cónaidhm
  • cónaidhmunion or alliance
Italian confederazione
  • confederazioneunion or alliance
Japanese 国家連合, コンフェデレーション
  • 国家連合 (kokka rengō)union or alliance
  • コンフェデレーション (konfederēshon)union or alliance
Korean 국가 연합
  • 국가 연합 (gukga yeonhap)union or alliance
Latvian konfederācija
  • konfederācijaunion or alliance
Lithuanian konfederacija
  • konfederacijaunion or alliance
Malay konfederasi, gabungan
  • konfederasiunion or alliance
  • gabunganunion or alliance
Norwegian Bokmål konføderasjon
  • konføderasjonunion or alliance
Polish konfederacja, konfederowanie
  • konfederacjaunion or alliance
  • konfederowanieact
Portuguese confederação
  • confederaçãounion or alliance
Romanian confederație
  • confederațieunion or alliance
Russian конфедера́ция
  • конфедера́ция (konfederácija)union or alliance
Scottish Gaelic co-fhlaitheas
  • co-fhlaitheasunion or alliance
Slovak konfederácia
  • konfederáciaunion or alliance
Spanish confederación
  • confederaciónunion or alliance
Swedish konfederation
  • konfederationunion or alliance
Tagalog kalaguman, kompederasyon
  • kalagumanunion or alliance
  • kompederasyonunion or alliance
Thai สมาพันธ์, สมาพันธรัฐ
  • สมาพันธ์ (sà-maa-pan)union or alliance
  • สมาพันธรัฐ (sà-maa-pan-tá-rát)union or alliance
Turkish konfederasyon
  • konfederasyonunion or alliance
Ukrainian конфедера́ція
  • конфедера́ція (konfederácija)union or alliance
Urdu کَنْفیڈَریشَن
  • کَنْفیڈَریشَن (kanfeḍareśan)union or alliance
Vietnamese bang liên
  • bang liênunion or alliance
Welsh cydffederasiwn
  • cydffederasiwnunion or alliance

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with confederation

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

confederation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/confederation

MLA

“confederation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/confederation. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “confederation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/confederation.

Source: confederation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.