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"Our country soweth also in the field of our breasts many precious seeds, as … honest behavior, affability, comity," wrote English clergyman Thomas Becon in 1543. Becon's use is an early documented appearance of comity—a word derived from Latin cōmitās, meaning "friendliness, courtesy, or graciousness." Comity is largely used in political and judicial contexts. Since 1804, comity of nations has referred to countries bound by a courteous relationship based on mutual recognition of executive, legislative, and judicial acts. And, in legal contexts, comity refers to the recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another.
Examples of comity in a Sentence
Thomas Wright, The Atlantic, 17 Sep. 2025
Trump is also challenging Johnson’s pleas for comity.
—Mike Lillis, The Hill, 13 Sep. 2025
But one suggestion, comity, said much about the state of the Illinois GOP.
—Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune, 14 Aug. 2025
The comity on school spending, however, shuns a debate that California’s politicians should be having — what to do about the system’s chronically subpar academic achievement.
—Dan Walters, Mercury News, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for comity
Cite this Entry
“Comity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/comity. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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Legal Definition
comity
noun
called also judicial comity
compare choice of law, federalism, full faith and credit
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