policide

P3O1L1I1C3I1D2E1

noun

The intentional destruction of a nation.

OriginAncient Greek πόλις →
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Meanings

noun
  1. The intentional destruction of a nation.
  2. The intentional destruction of political activity in a society.
    1 more example

    In Chile the project of policide—annihilating the Left and more broadly, Center and Left cultural understandings of politics as a process of popular mobilization, via massive killing and abduction of real and alleged Left activists, complemented by additional layers of persecution and fright heaped on dissidents of any political stripe—yielded issues of comprehensibility and representation similar to those in classic cases of genocide.

    2010, Steve J. Stern, Reckoning with Pinochet: The Memory Question in Democratic Chile, 1989–2006

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπόλις“city; state”
  2. Englishpolicide

Coined based on Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis, “city; state”) and the suffix -cide.

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

policied
Cite this entry
APA

policide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/policide

MLA

“policide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/policide. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “policide,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/policide.

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