marked by artful prudence, expedience, and shrewdness
it is neither polite nor politic to get into other people's quarrels
a politic decision
a politic manager
a politic old scoundrel
a shrewd and politic reply
smoothly agreeable and courteous with a degree of sophistication; "he was too politic to quarrel with so important a personage"; "the hostess averted a confrontation between two guests with a diplomatic change of subject"; "the manager pacified the customer with a smooth apology for the error"; "affable, suave, moderate men...smugly convinced of their respectability" - Ezra Pound; smooth, suave, bland
