Definition of "polis" [polis]

• A city-state of ancient Greece. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "For as diamond alone can polish diamond, so men alone can polish men; and hence it is that it was first by living in a city ([Greek: polis], _polis_) that men --"
• "(Ital., _città_), a city, and _polite_, from the Greek [Greek: polis] (_polis_), a city; because cities are the first to become civilized, or _civil_, and polite, or _polished_ (Latin, _polire_)."
• "The spirit of the polis is the spirit of unity in conflict, in battle."