Word.ws English Dictionary

aristocracy

Syllables: a·ris·to·cra·cy/ˌæɹ.ɪˈstɒk.ɹə.si//ˌɛɹ.ɪˈstɑ.kɹə.si/

aristocracy noun: the nobility, or the hereditary ruling class.

Noun

aristocracy (countable and uncountable, plural aristocracies)

  1. The nobility, or the hereditary ruling class.
    • But when Nietzsche has the incredible lack of humour and lack of imagination to ask us to believe that his aristocracy is an aristocracy of strong muscles or an aristocracy of strong wills, it is necessary to point out the truth. It is an aristocracy of weak nerves.1905, G.K. Chesterton, Heretics
    • That, then, which is called aristocracy in some countries and nobility in others arose out of the governments founded upon conquest.1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
  2. Government by such a class, or a state with such a government.
    • How many false principles have been laid down, how much delusion supported, by reference to the glories of Athens and of Rome! It remained for a later time to observe that those so-called republics were but aristocracy in its most oppressive form; and what are now the people were then positive...1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 255
  3. A class of people considered (not normally universally) superior to others.

aristocracy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Bengali

aristocracy in Hindi

aristocracy
कुलीनतंत्र kulīntantra, अभिजाततंत्र abhijāttantra

aristocracy in Tamil

பிரபுக்கள், உயர்குடி மக்கள், உயர்குடிஞர் ஆட்சி, உயர்குடியாட்சி நாடு, உயர் பண்பாட்சி, தனி உரிமை பெற்றவர்களின் மேட்டிமை

aristocracy in Marathi

कुलीन वर्ग

aristocracy in Bengali

অভিজাততন্ত্র, উচ্চবংশীয় সমাজ
More languagesFewer languages
aristocracy in Telugu
కులీనవర్గం
aristocracy in Malayalam
രാജാധിപത്യം, പ്രഭുത്വം, ആഭിജാത്യം, വർഗ്ഗം
aristocracy in Kannada
ಶ್ರೀಮಂತರ ಸರಕಾರ, ಉಳ್ಳವರ ಆಡಳಿತ
aristocracy in Gujarati
કુલીનવર્ગ
aristocracy in Tagalog
butikasan
aristocracy in Arabic
أَرِسْتُقْرَاطِيَّة ʔaristuqrāṭiyya
aristocracy in Indonesian
aristokrat, aristokrasi
aristocracy in Persian
آریستوکراسی âristokerâsi
aristocracy in Thai
อภิชน aphichon, อภิชนาธิปไตย à-pí-chá-naa-tí-bpà-dtai
aristocracy in Vietnamese
chế độ quý tộc

Examples of aristocracy in a sentence

  • The reformation disempowered the established church and thus roiled the aristocracy.
  • In aristocracies, servants are a class apart.
  • World War I shattered the gossima delusions of the aristocracy, and the Great Depression humbled the rest.

All 31 example sentences with aristocracy

Forms of aristocracy

pluralaristocracies

Plural of aristocracy: aristocracies

Origin of aristocracy

Borrowed from Middle French aristocratie, from Medieval Latin aristocratia, from Ancient Greek ἀριστοκρατίᾱ (aristokratíā, “the rule of the best“, that is, “the best-born”, “nobility”), from ἄριστος (áristos, “best, noblest”) + -κρατίᾱ (-kratíā), from κράτος (krátos, “power, rule”). By surface analysis, aristo- + -cracy.

Words formed from aristocracy

Words that rhyme with aristocracy

38 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about aristocracy

What does aristocracy mean?
Aristocracy means the nobility, or the hereditary ruling class.
What is aristocracy in Hindi?
Aristocracy in Hindi is कुलीनतंत्र (kulīntantra), अभिजाततंत्र (abhijāttantra). See Aristocracy meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is aristocracy?
Aristocracy is a noun.
How do you pronounce aristocracy?
Aristocracy is pronounced /ˌæɹ.ɪˈstɒk.ɹə.si/ (UK).
What is the plural of aristocracy?
The plural of aristocracy is aristocracies.

Words near aristocracy in the dictionary

  1. Aristizabals
  2. aristo
  3. aristo-
  4. aristocide
  5. aristocracies
  6. aristocracy
  7. aristocracy of labor
  8. aristocracy of labour
  9. aristocrat
  10. aristocratess
  11. aristocratesses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: aristocracy (page history and authors); अभिजाततंत्र (Hindi) (page history and authors); aristocracy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); aristocracy (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); aristocracy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); aristocracy (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); aristocracy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); aristocracy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); aristocracy (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-aristocracy.opus, en-us-aristocracy.ogg.

Cite this entry: “aristocracy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/aristocracy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.