From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbody politicˌbody ˈpolitic noun [singular] formal PGall the people in a nation forming a state under the control of a single government
Examples from the Corpus
body politic• It represented an extreme example of a theocracy - of a body politic organised essentially around religious principles.• The body politic may have undergone radical surgery and it may have aged considerably, but it has continued to endure. 