noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A religious foundation or co-operative shared between Greek city states during the classical period, typically to support the temple or cult of a deity shared by the city states. Also used academically to refer to similar arrangements in non-Greek cultures.
2. 2
   an association of neighboring states or tribes in ancient Greece; established originally to defend a common religious center wordnet

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀμφικτυονία (amphiktuonía), from ἀμφί (amphí, “around, near”) + κτίζω (ktízō, “I found, people”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.