democracy

government by the people: The United States is a democracy.

Not to be confused with:

anarchy – the absence of laws or government: The fall of the empire was followed by chaos and anarchy.

aristocracy – rule by elite or privileged upper class: The governing body was composed of the country’s most powerful aristocracy.

oligarchy – government by the few: The citizens have no voice in an oligarchy.

plutocracy – government in which the wealthy class rules: In a plutocracy, there is little regard for the poor.

de·moc·ra·cy

(dĭ-mŏk′rə-sē)

n. pl. de·moc·ra·cies

1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.

2. A political or social unit that has such a government.

3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.

4. Majority rule.

5. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

[French démocratie, from Late Latin dēmocratia, from Greek dēmokratiā : dēmos, people; see dā- in Indo-European roots + -kratiā, -cracy.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

democracy

(dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ)

n, pl -cies

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) government by the people or their elected representatives

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a political or social unit governed ultimately by all its members

3. (Sociology) the practice or spirit of social equality

4. (Sociology) a social condition of classlessness and equality

5. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) the common people, esp as a political force

[C16: from French démocratie, from Late Latin dēmocratia, from Greek dēmokratia government by the people; see demo-, -cracy]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

de•moc•ra•cy

(dɪˈmɒk rə si)

n., pl. -cies.

1. government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

2. a state having such a form of government.

3. a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.

4. political or social equality; democratic spirit.

5. the common people, esp. with respect to their political power.

[1525–35; < Middle French démocratie < Late Latin dēmocratia < Greek dēmokratía popular government; see demo-, -cracy]

democracy

a form of government in which sovereign power resides in the people and is exercised by them or by officers they elect to represent them. Cf. republicanism. — democrat, n. — democratic, adj.

Democracy

the population of a democratic state; the common people; the members of the U. S. Democratic Party collectively, 1868.

democracy

A form of government in which power is held by the people or exercised on their behalf by elected representatives.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	democracy - the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives ideology, political orientation, political theory - an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group or nation
	2.	democracy - a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them republic, commonwealth Weimar Republic - the German republic founded at Weimar in 1919; "The Weimar Republic was overthrown in 1933 and replaced by the Third Reich" parliamentary democracy - a democracy having a parliament form of government, political system - the members of a social organization who are in power
	3.	democracy - the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group majority rule doctrine, ism, philosophical system, philosophy, school of thought - a belief (or system of beliefs) accepted as authoritative by some group or school

democracy

noun self-government, republic, commonwealth, autonomy, representative government, constitutional government, government by the people, elective government the spread of democracy in Eastern Europe

Quotations
"To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary" [Abraham Lincoln speech]
"My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest" [Ghandi Non-Violence in Peace and War]
"Democracy ... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike" [Plato The Republic]
"Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being" [John F. Kennedy Why England Slept]
"Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking" [Clement Atlee Anatomy of Britain]
"Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time" [Winston Churchill speech]
"Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them" [Robert, Marquis de Flers and Arman de Caillavet L'habit vert]
"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few" [George Bernard Shaw Man and Superman]
"government of the people, by the people, and for the people" [Abraham Lincoln Gettysburg Address]
"Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be" [Alexis de Tocqueville Democracy in America]
"Two Cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three" [E.M. Forster Two Cheers for Democracy]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

دِيـمُقْرَاطِيَّةديموقْراطِيَّه، حُكْم الشَّعْب

демокрация

demokracie

demokrati

Demokratie

δημοκρατία

democracia

demokraatia

demokratiakansanvalta

démocratie

demokracija

demokrácia

demokrasi

lýðræðilÿîræîi, lÿîræîisríki

democrazia democratico

民主主義民主

민주주의

democratia

demokratijademokratinė šalisdemokratinisdemokratiškaidemokratiškas

demokrātija, demokrātisms

demokracia

demokracija

demokrati

ประชาธิปไตย

demokrasi

sự dân chủ

民主

democracy

[dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ] N → democracia f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

democracy

[dɪˈmɒkrəsi] n → démocratie f parliamentary democracy

democracy

n → Demokratie f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

democracy

[dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ] n → democrazia

democracy

(diˈmokrəsi) – plural deˈmocracies – noun

(a country having) a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them. Which is the world's largest democracy?; He believes in democracy.

democrat (ˈdeməkrӕt) noun

one who believes in democracy as a principle. She likes to pretend she's a democrat.

democratic (deməˈkrӕtik) adjective

(negative undemocratic).

1. belonging to, governed by or typical of democracy. a democratic country.

2. believing in equal rights and privileges for all. The boss is very democratic.

democratically (deməˈkrӕtikəli) adverb

(negative undemocratically) following democratic principles. The issue was decided democratically by taking a general vote.

democracy

→ دِيـمُقْرَاطِيَّة demokracie demokrati Demokratie δημοκρατία democracia demokratia démocratie demokracija democrazia 民主主義 민주주의 democratie demokrati demokracja democracia демократия demokrati ประชาธิปไตย demokrasi sự dân chủ 民主

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Let him then be set over against democracy; he may truly be called the democratic man.

And does not tyranny spring from democracy in the same manner as democracy from oligarchy--I mean, after a sort?

And democracy has her own good, of which the insatiable desire brings her to dissolution?

Freedom, I replied; which, as they tell you in a democracy, is the glory of the State--and that therefore in a democracy alone will the freeman of nature deign to dwell.

I was going to observe, that the insatiable desire of this and the neglect of other things introduces the change in democracy, which occasions a demand for tyranny.

When a democracy which is thirsting for freedom has evil cupbearers presiding over the feast, and has drunk too deeply of the strong wine of freedom, then, unless her rulers are very amenable and give a plentiful draught, she calls them to account and punishes them, and says that they are cursed oligarchs.

The ruin of oligarchy is the ruin of democracy; the same disease magnified and intensified by liberty overmasters democracy-- the truth being that the excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction; and this is the case not only in the seasons and in vegetable and animal life, but above all in forms of government.

And so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty?

That, however, was not, as I believe, your question-you rather desired to know what is that disorder which is generated alike in oligarchy and democracy, and is the ruin of both?

Then, in order that we may see clearly what we are doing, let us imagine democracy to be divided, as indeed it is, into three classes; for in the first place freedom creates rather more drones in the democratic than there were in the oligarchical State.

And in the democracy they are certainly more intensified.

View in context

A tyranny then is, as has been said, a monarchy, where one person has an absolute and despotic power over the whole community and every member therein: an oligarchy, where the supreme power of the state is lodged with the rich: a democracy, on the contrary, is where those have it who are worth little or nothing.

View in context