republic re·pub·lic noun \ri-ˈpə-blik\ : a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader (such as a president) rather than by a king or queen Full Definition of REPUBLIC 1 a (1) : a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government c : a usually specified republican government of a political unit 2 : a body of persons freely engaged in a specified activity 3 : a constituent political and territorial unit of the former nations of Czechoslovakia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Yugoslavia See republic defined for English-language learners » See republic defined for kids » Examples of REPUBLIC democracy de·moc·ra·cy noun \di-ˈmä-krə-sē\ : a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting : a country ruled by democracy : an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights plural de·moc·ra·cies Full Definition of DEMOCRACY 1 a : government by the people; especially : rule of the majority b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections 2 : a political unit that has a democratic government 3 capitalized : the principles and policies of the Democratic party in the United States 4 : the common people especially when constituting the source of political authority 5 : the absence of hereditary or arbitrary class distinctions or privileges See democracy defined for English-language learners » See democracy defined for kids » Examples of DEMOCRACY The nation has chosen democracy over monarchy. In a democracy, every citizen should have the right to vote. The company is not a democracy; decisions are made by a board of directors, not the workers. There is democracy within the company. Democracy, I would repeat, is the noblest form of government we have yet evolved … —Norman Mailer, New York Review of Books, 27 Mar. 2002 [+]more Origin of DEMOCRACY Middle French democratie, from Late Latin democratia, from Greek dēmokratia, from dēmos + -kratia -cracy First Known Use: 1576 Related to DEMOCRACY Synonyms republic, self-government, self-rule [+]more Other Government and Politics Terms agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism Rhymes with DEMOCRACY autocracy, bureaucracy, Eurocracy, kleptocracy, mobocracy, plantocracy, plutocracy, slavocracy, technocracy, theocracy democracy noun (Concise Encyclopedia) Form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic free elections. In a direct democracy, the public participates in government directly (as in some ancient Greek city-states, some New England town meetings, and some cantons in modern Switzerland). Most democracies today are representative. The concept of representative democracy arose largely from ideas and institutions that developed during the European Middle Ages and the Enlightenment and in the American and French Revolutions. Democracy has come to imply universal suffrage, competition for office, freedom of speech and the press, and the rule of law. See also republic.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 04:33:07 +0000
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