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Impolitic appeared 400 years ago as an antonym of "politic," a word that basically means "shrewd," "sagacious," or "tactful." "Politic" came to us via Middle French from Latin politicus. The Latin word, in turn, came from a Greek word based on politēs, meaning "citizen." "Impolitic" has often been used to refer to action or policy on the part of public figures that is politically unwise-from British statesman Edmund Burke's judicious "the most ... impolitick of all things, unequal taxation" (1797) to People journalist James Kunen's ironic "The author of these impolitic remarks has risen to the very pinnacle of politics" (1988).
Examples of impolitic in a Sentence
S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 16 July 2024
Trump can make vile and impolitic statements regularly — using Hitler-ian language to describe migrants, for example, or mocking Biden for a childhood stutter.
—S.e. Cupp, New York Daily News, 13 Mar. 2024
Though Baron’s account contains no collegial bombshells, it is filled with small, impolitic, and probably unnecessary detonations of this kind, apparently included for the fullness of the record.
—Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023
In a 1989 interview, Gagosian spoke with impolitic frankness to Anthony Haden-Guest about the ways money can ruin an artist.
—Patrick Radden Keefe, The New Yorker, 24 July 2023
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Dictionary Entries Near impolitic
Cite this Entry
“Impolitic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/impolitic. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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