confederacy

Meanings

1. An alliance.
2. A state where the sovereign constituent units delegate their authority to the centre. As opposed to a federation, where the central and regional governments are each equal and sovereign in their own sphere.
3. Specifically, an instance of a decentralized governing structure among the indigenous peoples of North America.

1. The Confederate States of America, the collection of American states that seceded from the United States in 1860–61, and fought against the Union in the American Civil War.

Etymology

From Middle English confederacie, from Anglo-Norman confederacie, from Latin cōnfoederātiō. Doublet of confederation.