comity
Other forms: comities
The noun comity means a state of civility or courtesy between people, organizations, and nations. It's a hoped-for mutual respect and friendliness, although too infrequently the case in politics and business.
Comity is one of those rare words that has retained its original meaning through the ages. The Latin adjective cōmis, "courteous, friendly," developed into the noun cōmitātem, meaning "courtesy or friendliness" and ultimately into English comity in the 16th century. The phrase "comity of nations," coined in 1862, refers to the mutual respect for each other's laws and institutions that encourages a friendly back-and-forth between nations.
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a state or atmosphere of harmony or mutual civility and respecttypes:comity of nationscourteous respect by one nation for the laws and institutions of anothertype of:concord, concordance, consonance, harmonya harmonious state of things in general and of their properties (as of colors and sounds); congruity of parts with one another and with the whole
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Vocabulary lists containing comity
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion in the Dred Scott Case. Scott, a slave, had been brought from a slave territory to a free territory and demanded his freedom. The Court ruled that as an enslaved person, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in the courts. The decision further polarized the North and the South and ended any chance of compromise. This pro-slavery Supreme Court decision illuminates how the issue of slavery brought the nation to the brink of the Civil War. Read the full text here.
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