democracy

Syllables: de·moc·ra·cy/dɪˈmɒk.ɹə.si/US/dɪˈmɑ.kɹə.si/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

democracy noun: rule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as.

Noun

democracy (countable and uncountable, plural democracies)

(uncountable) Rule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as
- And the essential value and power of Democracy consists in this,—that it combines, as far as possible, power and organization ; THE SPIRIT, MANHOOD, is at one with THE BODY, ORGANIZATION. [....] Democracy is Government by the People.1866, J. Arthur Partridge, On Democracy, Trübner & Co., page 2
- The period, that is, which marks the transition from absolutism or aristocracy to democracy will mark also the transition from absolutist or autocratic methods of nomination to democratic methods.1901, The American Historical Review, American Historical Association, page 260
A form of government where the people elect representatives who propose and approve laws and administer the government on their behalf (representative democracy).
A form of government where the people vote directly on laws and government decisions (direct democracy).
(countable) A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction.
- Of course, the Russians think it is something else because they say the Russians have a democracy and it is plain that their government is not what the Americans regard as a democracy.1947 March 16, Edwin L. James, “General Marshall Raises the Ideological Issue”, in The New York Times
- Since the wisest and most moral would not necessarily be the choice of the majority of people, Plato's Republic is not a democracy.1975, Robin Palmer, A Dictionary of Mythical Places, Henry Z. Walck, page 84
(countable) A state with a democratic system of government.
- Some countries which were originally monarchies, like the UK, have maintained their status as monarchies whilst also becoming democracies in the modern era; others, like France, completely disposed of their monarchies when they became democracies.
- After almost four decades of authoritarian rule, South Africa became a democracy in April 1994.2002, Victor G. Hilliard, “The Role of Human Resource Development in South African Public Service Reform”, in Administrative Reform in Developing Nations, Praeger, page 179
(uncountable) Belief in political freedom and equality; the "spirit of democracy".
- As states of the human spirit democracy, righteousness, and faith have much in common and may be cultivated by the same means...1918, Charles Horton Cooley, “A Primary Culture for Democracy”, in Publications of the American Sociological Society 13, page 8
- It must further be admitted that he provided a successful interpretation of democracy in its philosophic aspects when he conceived democracy as a general outlook on the universe... In Bakunin's conception of democracy as religious in character we trace the influence of French socialism.1919, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, The Spirit of Russia: Studies in History, Literature and Philosophy, Macmillan, page 446

Proper noun capitalized: Democracy

the Democracy

(US, obsolete) The Democratic Party.
- I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and an agreed starting point for a discussion between Republicans and that wing of the Democracy headed by Senator Douglas.1860 February 27, Abraham Lincoln, Cooper Union Address, New York City, New York

democracy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

democracy in Hindi

rule by the people: लोकतंत्र loktantra, जम्हूरियत jamhūriyat, जनतंत्र jantantra, प्रजातंत्र prajātantra, लोकशाही lokśāhī
government under the rule of its people: लोकतंत्र loktantra

democracy in Tamil

rule by the people: மக்களாட்சி makkaḷāṭci, ஜனநாயகம் jaṉanāyakam
government under the rule of its people: மக்களாட்சி makkaḷāṭci, ஜனநாயகம் jaṉanāyakam

democracy in Marathi

rule by the people: लोकशाही lokśāhī
government under the rule of its people: लोकशाही lokśāhī

democracy in Urdu

rule by the people: جَمْہُورِیَت jamhūriyat, لوک شاہی lok śāhī
government under the rule of its people: جَمْہُورِیَت jamhūriyat, لوک شاہی lok śāhī

More languagesFewer languages

democracy in Bengali: গণতন্ত্র gonotontro
democracy in Telugu: ప్రజాస్వామ్యం prajāsvāmyaṁ
democracy in Malayalam: ജനാധിപത്യം janādhipatyaṁ
democracy in Kannada: ಪ್ರಜಾಪ್ರಭುತ್ವ prajāprabhutva
democracy in Punjabi: ਲੋਕਰਾਜ lokrāj, ਜਮਹੂਰੀਅਤ jamhūrīata
democracy in Gujarati: લોકશાહી lokśāhī, પ્રજાતંત્ર prajātantra
democracy in Odia: ଗଣତନ୍ତ୍ର gaṇatantra
democracy in Sanskrit: लोकतंत्र lokataṃtra
democracy in Sinhala: ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය prajātantrawādaya
democracy in Assamese: গণতন্ত্ৰ gonotontro
democracy in Nepali: प्रजातन्त्र prajātantra, लोकतन्त्र loktantra
democracy in Pashto: دموکراسي demokrāsi, ولسواله wolǝswāla, ولسواکي wolǝswāki, ډېموکراسي ḍemokrāsi
democracy in Tagalog: madlakasan, demokrasya
democracy in Arabic: دِيمُقْرَاطِيَّة dīmuqrāṭiyya
democracy in Malay: demokrasi
democracy in Indonesian: demokrasi
democracy in Thai: ประชาธิปไตย bprà-chaa-tí-bpà-dtai
democracy in Vietnamese: dân chủ
democracy in Myanmar: ဒီမိုကရေစီ dimuika.reci
Dhivehi: ޑިމޮކްރަސީ ḍimok̊rasī

Examples of democracy in a sentence

A century ago there was in the Old World only one tiny spot in which the working of democracy could be studied.1921, James Bryce Bryce, Modern Democracies, The Macmillan Company, page 1:
On this day in 1977, Taiwan witnessed a watershed moment in its march to democracy: the Chungli Incident.2017 November 19, “Today in History”, in Radio Taiwan International, archived from the original on 10 Sep 2022:
In 1900 not a single country had what we would today consider a democracy: a government created by elections in which every adult citizen could vote.2003, Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, W. W. Norton & Company, page 13:
The United States was founded as a republic, not a democracy.2018 March, Yascha Mounk, “America Is Not a Democracy”, in The Atlantic:

All 40 example sentences with democracy

Synonyms of democracy

democratism

Forms of democracy

plural	democracies

Plural of democracy: democracies

Origin of democracy

From Middle French democratie (French démocratie), from Medieval Latin dēmocratia, from Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokrătĭ́ā). By surface analysis, demo- (“people”) + -cracy (“rule”).

Words formed from democracy

Phrases with democracy

Words that rhyme with democracy

38 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about democracy

What does democracy mean?: Democracy means rule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as.
What is democracy in Hindi?: Democracy in Hindi is लोकतंत्र (loktantra), जम्हूरियत (jamhūriyat), जनतंत्र (jantantra). See Democracy meaning in Hindi.
How do you use democracy in a sentence?: A century ago there was in the Old World only one tiny spot in which the working of democracy could be studied.
What part of speech is democracy?: Democracy can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce democracy?: Democracy is pronounced /dɪˈmɒk.ɹə.si/ (UK).
What is the plural of democracy?: The plural of democracy is democracies.

Words near democracy in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: democracy (page history and authors); Democracy (page history and authors). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-democracy.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Simplificationalizer-democracy.wav.

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