Definition of confederation in English:

confederation

noun kənfɛdəˈreɪʃ(ə)nkənˌfɛdəˈreɪʃ(ə)n

1An organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.
同盟；联盟；联邦
a confederation of trade unions
工会联合会。
Example sentencesExamples
- Membership in the Astronomical League, a confederation of amateurs and their organizations, has doubled in the last decade to 20,000 members.
- Prior to the 19th century, the region's social structure - outside of a few major cities, including Baghdad - was organized primarily around relatively isolated tribal confederations.
- The stoppage was organised by one of the trade union confederations representing Alitalia employees.
- As organizations, each national party is a decentralized and loose confederation of state parties and of other affiliated groups.
- So Britain and Spain had access to Indian groups and lent expertise in aiding Indian confederations and alliances.
- It is just one sign of both a blatant and subtle shift in strategy among the loose confederation of different organisations that make up the peace movement, now that war has started.
- It's a distinction that chafes Chinwe Okelu, former chair of the Mill Woods Presidents' Council, a confederation of community leagues.
- Currently, three confederations of peasant organizations work to promote peasants' interests in national public policy discussion and occasionally intervene to support peasants in land conflicts.
- The action, which is officially a one-day strike called by all the trade union federations and confederations, will be continued indefinitely by many workers.
- The US party system is a loose confederation of parties drawn into a nominal two-party system.
- The measures were endorsed by government and opposition parties, as well as the main trade union confederations, but were opposed by the independent union movements that are popular amongst public sector workers.
- It needs an international confederation of loyal, corrupt, authoritarian governments in poorer countries to push through unpopular reforms and quell the mutinies.
- Caritas is a confederation of organisations (local, national, and regional) to spread solidarity and social justice throughout the world.
- Hours after the elections, the employers confederation demanded more liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation of the economy, as well as wage controls and cuts in public spending.
- With the elements of national power coalescing at the tactical level of war, a loose confederation of governmental agencies at the combatant commander level is simply insufficient.
- Italy has had three politically diverse and competing union confederations since the onset of the cold war.
- ‘As soon as it is ready, we will give it to all member federations and confederations in order to show there is transparency and the figures given are not rumours,’ Blatter said.
- I know that the legislation is not supported by the confederation of iwi in Tainu.
- The actions were called by all seven of the main trade union confederations and all the parties of the left, including the Socialist Party.
- Third, the semiconductor business is importantly shaped by confederations of producers banding together to promote technology standards.
Synonyms
alliance, league, confederacy, federation, association, coalition, combine, consortium, affiliation, conglomerate, cooperative, partnership, fellowship, syndicate, compact, band, group, circle, ring
society, union
rare consociation, sodality
1. 1.1 A more or less permanent union of states with some or most political power vested in a central authority.
  邦联
  Canada became a confederation in 1867
  Example sentencesExamples
  One day, he prophesied, ‘A European confederation will probably replace them.’
  On the surface, a confederation is a union of sovereign states, but, underneath, it holds the possibility of moving from independence to unification.
  In 1397 the chief men of the three countries met at Kalmar to arrange a basis for a permanent legal confederation (the Union of Galmar).
  Everyone knows that the future lies in international cooperation, in federations or confederations of states.
  Federalism can be seen a compromise between the extreme concentration of power and a loose confederation of independent states for governing a variety of people usually in a large expanse of territory.
  From 1776 to 1789 the United States were a confederation; after 1789 it was a federal nation.
  The United States once had to move from a confederation to a federation.
  This is not a confederation of states; it is a unified nation.
  Although Mongol-led confederations sometimes exercised wide political power over their conquered territories, their strength declined rapidly after the Mongol dynasty in China was overthrown in 1368.
  But at the Congress of VIENNA Swiss control was restored and the European powers guaranteed the confederation's neutrality.
  The development of modern Switzerland can be traced back to a confederation (loose political grouping) of several Alpine valley communities and states in the Middle Ages.
  First, Slovenia had the status of federal republic in Yugoslavia; then, in 1974, with the emergence of the self-management system, it became a confederation.
  The German language has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose confederation and a federal union.
  In one of Lien Chan's books, New Blueprint, New Dynamism, written in 2001, he declared the KMT's ultimate goal was unification with the mainland on the basis of a confederation.
  The republic would remain in a loose confederation with Yugoslavia, the ultimatum continued, which should be renamed the ‘Association of the States of Serbia and Montenegro’.
  The conservative cantons refused to revise the 1815 Pact, which guaranteed their sovereignty and gave them more power within the confederation than their population and economy warranted.
  The EU at its present stage is neither a confederation nor a federation, but it is quite clear that European integration has fostered a system with a considerable degree of federalism.
  Peoples will know that they cannot become conquerors without losing their own liberty; that permanent confederations are the sole means of maintaining their independence; that they must seek security, not power.
  Europe works best as a confederation, with provisional federal powers for acute problems, subject to expiration clauses.
  In his latest book he argues for a Franco-German confederation that can enable Europe ‘to protect its interests.’
2. 1.2mass noun The action of confederating or the state of being confederated.
  结盟（或联合）的行动；结盟（或联合）的状态
  a referendum on confederation
  就结盟问题的全民公决。
  Example sentencesExamples
  Their historic encounter in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in June 2000 has initiated a thaw in relations that could lead, in time, to a confederation of the two Koreas and eventual reunification.
  As with point 1, I don't see what this has to do with strengthening Alberta's place in confederation.
  It gets weirder: funding was also denied to a producer who wanted to make a documentary about the Plains of Abraham because it took place before confederation.
  This places confederation towards the strategic center of the unification-independence spectrum, something that may have a positive effect on domestic political competition and integration.
  The justices stated unambiguously that Quebec has no legal right to secede unilaterally and that only a process of constitutional amendment can change Quebec's legal status within confederation.
  His tireless advocacy of confederation with Canada paid off when a second referendum on 22 July 1948 closely approved incorporation with Canada.
  Under the SPLM's proposed confederation, the south and north would establish their own constitutions, with a common non-religious political system in the capital city.
  Although they could challenge sedentary empires by a process of confederation, provided they maintained their mobile way of life, there was no way that these nomadic and sedentary empires could be regarded as like units.
  The leaves disappeared from the penny only in 1967, when they were replaced by a rock dove to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of confederation.
  Canadians in all strata of society became greatly disturbed by this threat and looked for ways to draw the northwestern regions of North America into confederation.
  There has been devolution as well as confederation.
  Obviously Alberta puts a lot more into confederation than they get out, from a purely dollars and cents perspective.
  On August 1, 1291, three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation, an act that later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland.
  In the Canadian capital, Ottawa, authorities snuffed and boarded up the Centennial Flame, which commemorates Canadian confederation, and erected barricades in anticipation of possible violence.
  This peculiar electoral strategy only makes sense when it is understood that their stated aim is not to form a government but to remove Quebec from confederation entirely.
  ‘But even our fathers of confederation are hard to name,’ continues Maddin.
  Beginning as a railway in the first century of Canadian confederation, it entered Canada's second century as a multi-model transport, industrial and financial enterprise.
  The cell's complex inner composition cannot function at all unless all the parts are simultaneously present, working in tightly integrated confederation.
  The researchers attribute this apparent law-defying behavior to the banding together of variously dispersed magnons into a kind of quantum confederation.
  Albertans often feel they were sold out to protect Ontario consumers but that's the nature of confederation.

Origin

Late Middle English: from Old French confederacion or late Latin confederatio(n-), from Latin confoederare, from con- 'together' + foederare 'join in league with' (from foedus 'league, treaty').

Definition of confederation in US English:

confederation

nounkənˌfɛdəˈreɪʃ(ə)nkənˌfedəˈrāSH(ə)n

1An organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league.
同盟；联盟；联邦
a confederation of trade unions
工会联合会。
Example sentencesExamples
- Prior to the 19th century, the region's social structure - outside of a few major cities, including Baghdad - was organized primarily around relatively isolated tribal confederations.
- Third, the semiconductor business is importantly shaped by confederations of producers banding together to promote technology standards.
- I know that the legislation is not supported by the confederation of iwi in Tainu.
- Italy has had three politically diverse and competing union confederations since the onset of the cold war.
- Hours after the elections, the employers confederation demanded more liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation of the economy, as well as wage controls and cuts in public spending.
- It is just one sign of both a blatant and subtle shift in strategy among the loose confederation of different organisations that make up the peace movement, now that war has started.
- So Britain and Spain had access to Indian groups and lent expertise in aiding Indian confederations and alliances.
- The stoppage was organised by one of the trade union confederations representing Alitalia employees.
- It needs an international confederation of loyal, corrupt, authoritarian governments in poorer countries to push through unpopular reforms and quell the mutinies.
- Membership in the Astronomical League, a confederation of amateurs and their organizations, has doubled in the last decade to 20,000 members.
- The US party system is a loose confederation of parties drawn into a nominal two-party system.
- ‘As soon as it is ready, we will give it to all member federations and confederations in order to show there is transparency and the figures given are not rumours,’ Blatter said.
- It's a distinction that chafes Chinwe Okelu, former chair of the Mill Woods Presidents' Council, a confederation of community leagues.
- The action, which is officially a one-day strike called by all the trade union federations and confederations, will be continued indefinitely by many workers.
- The actions were called by all seven of the main trade union confederations and all the parties of the left, including the Socialist Party.
- Currently, three confederations of peasant organizations work to promote peasants' interests in national public policy discussion and occasionally intervene to support peasants in land conflicts.
- Caritas is a confederation of organisations (local, national, and regional) to spread solidarity and social justice throughout the world.
- As organizations, each national party is a decentralized and loose confederation of state parties and of other affiliated groups.
- With the elements of national power coalescing at the tactical level of war, a loose confederation of governmental agencies at the combatant commander level is simply insufficient.
- The measures were endorsed by government and opposition parties, as well as the main trade union confederations, but were opposed by the independent union movements that are popular amongst public sector workers.
Synonyms
alliance, league, confederacy, federation, association, coalition, combine, consortium, affiliation, conglomerate, cooperative, partnership, fellowship, syndicate, compact, band, group, circle, ring
1. 1.1 A more or less permanent union of countries with some or most political power vested in a central authority.
  邦联
  Canada became a confederation in 1867
  Example sentencesExamples
  The EU at its present stage is neither a confederation nor a federation, but it is quite clear that European integration has fostered a system with a considerable degree of federalism.
  Europe works best as a confederation, with provisional federal powers for acute problems, subject to expiration clauses.
  One day, he prophesied, ‘A European confederation will probably replace them.’
  But at the Congress of VIENNA Swiss control was restored and the European powers guaranteed the confederation's neutrality.
  In 1397 the chief men of the three countries met at Kalmar to arrange a basis for a permanent legal confederation (the Union of Galmar).
  This is not a confederation of states; it is a unified nation.
  The republic would remain in a loose confederation with Yugoslavia, the ultimatum continued, which should be renamed the ‘Association of the States of Serbia and Montenegro’.
  In one of Lien Chan's books, New Blueprint, New Dynamism, written in 2001, he declared the KMT's ultimate goal was unification with the mainland on the basis of a confederation.
  From 1776 to 1789 the United States were a confederation; after 1789 it was a federal nation.
  Although Mongol-led confederations sometimes exercised wide political power over their conquered territories, their strength declined rapidly after the Mongol dynasty in China was overthrown in 1368.
  The development of modern Switzerland can be traced back to a confederation (loose political grouping) of several Alpine valley communities and states in the Middle Ages.
  In his latest book he argues for a Franco-German confederation that can enable Europe ‘to protect its interests.’
  On the surface, a confederation is a union of sovereign states, but, underneath, it holds the possibility of moving from independence to unification.
  First, Slovenia had the status of federal republic in Yugoslavia; then, in 1974, with the emergence of the self-management system, it became a confederation.
  Peoples will know that they cannot become conquerors without losing their own liberty; that permanent confederations are the sole means of maintaining their independence; that they must seek security, not power.
  Federalism can be seen a compromise between the extreme concentration of power and a loose confederation of independent states for governing a variety of people usually in a large expanse of territory.
  The conservative cantons refused to revise the 1815 Pact, which guaranteed their sovereignty and gave them more power within the confederation than their population and economy warranted.
  The German language has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose confederation and a federal union.
  Everyone knows that the future lies in international cooperation, in federations or confederations of states.
  The United States once had to move from a confederation to a federation.
2. 1.2 The action of confederating or the state of being confederated.
  结盟（或联合）的行动；结盟（或联合）的状态
  a referendum on confederation
  就结盟问题的全民公决。
  Example sentencesExamples
  The researchers attribute this apparent law-defying behavior to the banding together of variously dispersed magnons into a kind of quantum confederation.
  On August 1, 1291, three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation, an act that later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland.
  As with point 1, I don't see what this has to do with strengthening Alberta's place in confederation.
  The justices stated unambiguously that Quebec has no legal right to secede unilaterally and that only a process of constitutional amendment can change Quebec's legal status within confederation.
  The cell's complex inner composition cannot function at all unless all the parts are simultaneously present, working in tightly integrated confederation.
  In the Canadian capital, Ottawa, authorities snuffed and boarded up the Centennial Flame, which commemorates Canadian confederation, and erected barricades in anticipation of possible violence.
  There has been devolution as well as confederation.
  His tireless advocacy of confederation with Canada paid off when a second referendum on 22 July 1948 closely approved incorporation with Canada.
  Their historic encounter in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in June 2000 has initiated a thaw in relations that could lead, in time, to a confederation of the two Koreas and eventual reunification.
  Canadians in all strata of society became greatly disturbed by this threat and looked for ways to draw the northwestern regions of North America into confederation.
  ‘But even our fathers of confederation are hard to name,’ continues Maddin.
  Although they could challenge sedentary empires by a process of confederation, provided they maintained their mobile way of life, there was no way that these nomadic and sedentary empires could be regarded as like units.
  Albertans often feel they were sold out to protect Ontario consumers but that's the nature of confederation.
  Beginning as a railway in the first century of Canadian confederation, it entered Canada's second century as a multi-model transport, industrial and financial enterprise.
  Obviously Alberta puts a lot more into confederation than they get out, from a purely dollars and cents perspective.
  Under the SPLM's proposed confederation, the south and north would establish their own constitutions, with a common non-religious political system in the capital city.
  This peculiar electoral strategy only makes sense when it is understood that their stated aim is not to form a government but to remove Quebec from confederation entirely.
  This places confederation towards the strategic center of the unification-independence spectrum, something that may have a positive effect on domestic political competition and integration.
  The leaves disappeared from the penny only in 1967, when they were replaced by a rock dove to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of confederation.
  It gets weirder: funding was also denied to a producer who wanted to make a documentary about the Plains of Abraham because it took place before confederation.

Origin

Late Middle English: from Old French confederacion or late Latin confederatio(n-), from Latin confoederare, from con- ‘together’ + foederare ‘join in league with’ (from foedus ‘league, treaty’).

词汇	confederation
释义	Definition of confederation in English: confederation noun kənfɛdəˈreɪʃ(ə)nkənˌfɛdəˈreɪʃ(ə)n 1An organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league. 同盟；联盟；联邦 a confederation of trade unions 工会联合会。 Example sentencesExamples Membership in the Astronomical League, a confederation of amateurs and their organizations, has doubled in the last decade to 20,000 members. Prior to the 19th century, the region's social structure - outside of a few major cities, including Baghdad - was organized primarily around relatively isolated tribal confederations. The stoppage was organised by one of the trade union confederations representing Alitalia employees. As organizations, each national party is a decentralized and loose confederation of state parties and of other affiliated groups. So Britain and Spain had access to Indian groups and lent expertise in aiding Indian confederations and alliances. It is just one sign of both a blatant and subtle shift in strategy among the loose confederation of different organisations that make up the peace movement, now that war has started. It's a distinction that chafes Chinwe Okelu, former chair of the Mill Woods Presidents' Council, a confederation of community leagues. Currently, three confederations of peasant organizations work to promote peasants' interests in national public policy discussion and occasionally intervene to support peasants in land conflicts. The action, which is officially a one-day strike called by all the trade union federations and confederations, will be continued indefinitely by many workers. The US party system is a loose confederation of parties drawn into a nominal two-party system. The measures were endorsed by government and opposition parties, as well as the main trade union confederations, but were opposed by the independent union movements that are popular amongst public sector workers. It needs an international confederation of loyal, corrupt, authoritarian governments in poorer countries to push through unpopular reforms and quell the mutinies. Caritas is a confederation of organisations (local, national, and regional) to spread solidarity and social justice throughout the world. Hours after the elections, the employers confederation demanded more liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation of the economy, as well as wage controls and cuts in public spending. With the elements of national power coalescing at the tactical level of war, a loose confederation of governmental agencies at the combatant commander level is simply insufficient. Italy has had three politically diverse and competing union confederations since the onset of the cold war. ‘As soon as it is ready, we will give it to all member federations and confederations in order to show there is transparency and the figures given are not rumours,’ Blatter said. I know that the legislation is not supported by the confederation of iwi in Tainu. The actions were called by all seven of the main trade union confederations and all the parties of the left, including the Socialist Party. Third, the semiconductor business is importantly shaped by confederations of producers banding together to promote technology standards. Synonyms alliance, league, confederacy, federation, association, coalition, combine, consortium, affiliation, conglomerate, cooperative, partnership, fellowship, syndicate, compact, band, group, circle, ring society, union rare consociation, sodality 1.1 A more or less permanent union of states with some or most political power vested in a central authority. 邦联 Canada became a confederation in 1867 Example sentencesExamples One day, he prophesied, ‘A European confederation will probably replace them.’ On the surface, a confederation is a union of sovereign states, but, underneath, it holds the possibility of moving from independence to unification. In 1397 the chief men of the three countries met at Kalmar to arrange a basis for a permanent legal confederation (the Union of Galmar). Everyone knows that the future lies in international cooperation, in federations or confederations of states. Federalism can be seen a compromise between the extreme concentration of power and a loose confederation of independent states for governing a variety of people usually in a large expanse of territory. From 1776 to 1789 the United States were a confederation; after 1789 it was a federal nation. The United States once had to move from a confederation to a federation. This is not a confederation of states; it is a unified nation. Although Mongol-led confederations sometimes exercised wide political power over their conquered territories, their strength declined rapidly after the Mongol dynasty in China was overthrown in 1368. But at the Congress of VIENNA Swiss control was restored and the European powers guaranteed the confederation's neutrality. The development of modern Switzerland can be traced back to a confederation (loose political grouping) of several Alpine valley communities and states in the Middle Ages. First, Slovenia had the status of federal republic in Yugoslavia; then, in 1974, with the emergence of the self-management system, it became a confederation. The German language has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose confederation and a federal union. In one of Lien Chan's books, New Blueprint, New Dynamism, written in 2001, he declared the KMT's ultimate goal was unification with the mainland on the basis of a confederation. The republic would remain in a loose confederation with Yugoslavia, the ultimatum continued, which should be renamed the ‘Association of the States of Serbia and Montenegro’. The conservative cantons refused to revise the 1815 Pact, which guaranteed their sovereignty and gave them more power within the confederation than their population and economy warranted. The EU at its present stage is neither a confederation nor a federation, but it is quite clear that European integration has fostered a system with a considerable degree of federalism. Peoples will know that they cannot become conquerors without losing their own liberty; that permanent confederations are the sole means of maintaining their independence; that they must seek security, not power. Europe works best as a confederation, with provisional federal powers for acute problems, subject to expiration clauses. In his latest book he argues for a Franco-German confederation that can enable Europe ‘to protect its interests.’ 1.2mass noun The action of confederating or the state of being confederated. 结盟（或联合）的行动；结盟（或联合）的状态 a referendum on confederation 就结盟问题的全民公决。 Example sentencesExamples Their historic encounter in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in June 2000 has initiated a thaw in relations that could lead, in time, to a confederation of the two Koreas and eventual reunification. As with point 1, I don't see what this has to do with strengthening Alberta's place in confederation. It gets weirder: funding was also denied to a producer who wanted to make a documentary about the Plains of Abraham because it took place before confederation. This places confederation towards the strategic center of the unification-independence spectrum, something that may have a positive effect on domestic political competition and integration. The justices stated unambiguously that Quebec has no legal right to secede unilaterally and that only a process of constitutional amendment can change Quebec's legal status within confederation. His tireless advocacy of confederation with Canada paid off when a second referendum on 22 July 1948 closely approved incorporation with Canada. Under the SPLM's proposed confederation, the south and north would establish their own constitutions, with a common non-religious political system in the capital city. Although they could challenge sedentary empires by a process of confederation, provided they maintained their mobile way of life, there was no way that these nomadic and sedentary empires could be regarded as like units. The leaves disappeared from the penny only in 1967, when they were replaced by a rock dove to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of confederation. Canadians in all strata of society became greatly disturbed by this threat and looked for ways to draw the northwestern regions of North America into confederation. There has been devolution as well as confederation. Obviously Alberta puts a lot more into confederation than they get out, from a purely dollars and cents perspective. On August 1, 1291, three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation, an act that later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland. In the Canadian capital, Ottawa, authorities snuffed and boarded up the Centennial Flame, which commemorates Canadian confederation, and erected barricades in anticipation of possible violence. This peculiar electoral strategy only makes sense when it is understood that their stated aim is not to form a government but to remove Quebec from confederation entirely. ‘But even our fathers of confederation are hard to name,’ continues Maddin. Beginning as a railway in the first century of Canadian confederation, it entered Canada's second century as a multi-model transport, industrial and financial enterprise. The cell's complex inner composition cannot function at all unless all the parts are simultaneously present, working in tightly integrated confederation. The researchers attribute this apparent law-defying behavior to the banding together of variously dispersed magnons into a kind of quantum confederation. Albertans often feel they were sold out to protect Ontario consumers but that's the nature of confederation. Origin Late Middle English: from Old French confederacion or late Latin confederatio(n-), from Latin confoederare, from con- 'together' + foederare 'join in league with' (from foedus 'league, treaty'). Definition of confederation in US English: confederation nounkənˌfɛdəˈreɪʃ(ə)nkənˌfedəˈrāSH(ə)n 1An organization which consists of a number of parties or groups united in an alliance or league. 同盟；联盟；联邦 a confederation of trade unions 工会联合会。 Example sentencesExamples Prior to the 19th century, the region's social structure - outside of a few major cities, including Baghdad - was organized primarily around relatively isolated tribal confederations. Third, the semiconductor business is importantly shaped by confederations of producers banding together to promote technology standards. I know that the legislation is not supported by the confederation of iwi in Tainu. Italy has had three politically diverse and competing union confederations since the onset of the cold war. Hours after the elections, the employers confederation demanded more liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation of the economy, as well as wage controls and cuts in public spending. It is just one sign of both a blatant and subtle shift in strategy among the loose confederation of different organisations that make up the peace movement, now that war has started. So Britain and Spain had access to Indian groups and lent expertise in aiding Indian confederations and alliances. The stoppage was organised by one of the trade union confederations representing Alitalia employees. It needs an international confederation of loyal, corrupt, authoritarian governments in poorer countries to push through unpopular reforms and quell the mutinies. Membership in the Astronomical League, a confederation of amateurs and their organizations, has doubled in the last decade to 20,000 members. The US party system is a loose confederation of parties drawn into a nominal two-party system. ‘As soon as it is ready, we will give it to all member federations and confederations in order to show there is transparency and the figures given are not rumours,’ Blatter said. It's a distinction that chafes Chinwe Okelu, former chair of the Mill Woods Presidents' Council, a confederation of community leagues. The action, which is officially a one-day strike called by all the trade union federations and confederations, will be continued indefinitely by many workers. The actions were called by all seven of the main trade union confederations and all the parties of the left, including the Socialist Party. Currently, three confederations of peasant organizations work to promote peasants' interests in national public policy discussion and occasionally intervene to support peasants in land conflicts. Caritas is a confederation of organisations (local, national, and regional) to spread solidarity and social justice throughout the world. As organizations, each national party is a decentralized and loose confederation of state parties and of other affiliated groups. With the elements of national power coalescing at the tactical level of war, a loose confederation of governmental agencies at the combatant commander level is simply insufficient. The measures were endorsed by government and opposition parties, as well as the main trade union confederations, but were opposed by the independent union movements that are popular amongst public sector workers. Synonyms alliance, league, confederacy, federation, association, coalition, combine, consortium, affiliation, conglomerate, cooperative, partnership, fellowship, syndicate, compact, band, group, circle, ring 1.1 A more or less permanent union of countries with some or most political power vested in a central authority. 邦联 Canada became a confederation in 1867 Example sentencesExamples The EU at its present stage is neither a confederation nor a federation, but it is quite clear that European integration has fostered a system with a considerable degree of federalism. Europe works best as a confederation, with provisional federal powers for acute problems, subject to expiration clauses. One day, he prophesied, ‘A European confederation will probably replace them.’ But at the Congress of VIENNA Swiss control was restored and the European powers guaranteed the confederation's neutrality. In 1397 the chief men of the three countries met at Kalmar to arrange a basis for a permanent legal confederation (the Union of Galmar). This is not a confederation of states; it is a unified nation. The republic would remain in a loose confederation with Yugoslavia, the ultimatum continued, which should be renamed the ‘Association of the States of Serbia and Montenegro’. In one of Lien Chan's books, New Blueprint, New Dynamism, written in 2001, he declared the KMT's ultimate goal was unification with the mainland on the basis of a confederation. From 1776 to 1789 the United States were a confederation; after 1789 it was a federal nation. Although Mongol-led confederations sometimes exercised wide political power over their conquered territories, their strength declined rapidly after the Mongol dynasty in China was overthrown in 1368. The development of modern Switzerland can be traced back to a confederation (loose political grouping) of several Alpine valley communities and states in the Middle Ages. In his latest book he argues for a Franco-German confederation that can enable Europe ‘to protect its interests.’ On the surface, a confederation is a union of sovereign states, but, underneath, it holds the possibility of moving from independence to unification. First, Slovenia had the status of federal republic in Yugoslavia; then, in 1974, with the emergence of the self-management system, it became a confederation. Peoples will know that they cannot become conquerors without losing their own liberty; that permanent confederations are the sole means of maintaining their independence; that they must seek security, not power. Federalism can be seen a compromise between the extreme concentration of power and a loose confederation of independent states for governing a variety of people usually in a large expanse of territory. The conservative cantons refused to revise the 1815 Pact, which guaranteed their sovereignty and gave them more power within the confederation than their population and economy warranted. The German language has a neat way of distinguishing between a loose confederation and a federal union. Everyone knows that the future lies in international cooperation, in federations or confederations of states. The United States once had to move from a confederation to a federation. 1.2 The action of confederating or the state of being confederated. 结盟（或联合）的行动；结盟（或联合）的状态 a referendum on confederation 就结盟问题的全民公决。 Example sentencesExamples The researchers attribute this apparent law-defying behavior to the banding together of variously dispersed magnons into a kind of quantum confederation. On August 1, 1291, three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation, an act that later came to be regarded as the foundation of Switzerland. As with point 1, I don't see what this has to do with strengthening Alberta's place in confederation. The justices stated unambiguously that Quebec has no legal right to secede unilaterally and that only a process of constitutional amendment can change Quebec's legal status within confederation. The cell's complex inner composition cannot function at all unless all the parts are simultaneously present, working in tightly integrated confederation. In the Canadian capital, Ottawa, authorities snuffed and boarded up the Centennial Flame, which commemorates Canadian confederation, and erected barricades in anticipation of possible violence. There has been devolution as well as confederation. His tireless advocacy of confederation with Canada paid off when a second referendum on 22 July 1948 closely approved incorporation with Canada. Their historic encounter in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang in June 2000 has initiated a thaw in relations that could lead, in time, to a confederation of the two Koreas and eventual reunification. Canadians in all strata of society became greatly disturbed by this threat and looked for ways to draw the northwestern regions of North America into confederation. ‘But even our fathers of confederation are hard to name,’ continues Maddin. Although they could challenge sedentary empires by a process of confederation, provided they maintained their mobile way of life, there was no way that these nomadic and sedentary empires could be regarded as like units. Albertans often feel they were sold out to protect Ontario consumers but that's the nature of confederation. Beginning as a railway in the first century of Canadian confederation, it entered Canada's second century as a multi-model transport, industrial and financial enterprise. Obviously Alberta puts a lot more into confederation than they get out, from a purely dollars and cents perspective. Under the SPLM's proposed confederation, the south and north would establish their own constitutions, with a common non-religious political system in the capital city. This peculiar electoral strategy only makes sense when it is understood that their stated aim is not to form a government but to remove Quebec from confederation entirely. This places confederation towards the strategic center of the unification-independence spectrum, something that may have a positive effect on domestic political competition and integration. The leaves disappeared from the penny only in 1967, when they were replaced by a rock dove to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of confederation. It gets weirder: funding was also denied to a producer who wanted to make a documentary about the Plains of Abraham because it took place before confederation. Origin Late Middle English: from Old French confederacion or late Latin confederatio(n-), from Latin confoederare, from con- ‘together’ + foederare ‘join in league with’ (from foedus ‘league, treaty’).
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