Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.
- the art or science of conducting such negotiations.
- skill in managing negotiations, handling people, etc., so that there is little or no ill will; tact: Seating one’s dinner guests often calls for considerable diplomacy.
noun plural -cies
- the conduct of the relations of one state with another by peaceful means
- skill in the management of international relations
- tact, skill, or cunning in dealing with people
1796, from French diplomatie, formed from diplomate “diplomat” (on model of aristocratie from aristocrate), from Latin adjective diplomaticos, from diploma (genitive diplomatis) “official document conferring a privilege” (see diploma; for sense evolution, see diplomatic).
It is obvious to any one who has been in charge of the interests of his country abroad that the day secrecy is abolished negotiations of any kind will become impossible. [Jules Cambon, “The Diplomatist” (transl. Christopher Rede Turner), 1931]