oligarchy
Syllables: o·li·gar·chy/ˈɒlɪˌɡɑːki/US/ˈɑlɪˌɡɑɹki/
oligarchy noun: a government run by and for only a few, often the aristocracy, the wealthy, or their friends and associates.
Noun
oligarchy (countable and uncountable, plural oligarchies)
- A government run by and for only a few, often the aristocracy, the wealthy, or their friends and associates.
- Despite the involvement of all classes of society, America's political duopoly and the importance of money to mass-market campaigning has established an oligarchy that is seldom responsive to the citizenry as a whole, when opposed to the wealthy or major interest groups.
- It's an oligarchy because these families own and run almost everything that makes money in El Salvador. Coffee gave birth to the oligarchy in the late 19th century, and economic growth has revolved around them ever since.1981 September 6, “The Eclipse of the Oligarchs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Mar 2022
- A state ruled by such a government.
- The 1832 Reform Act aimed to transform the British oligarchy and allow Parliament to represent the interests of a broader range of the population.
- Those who make up an oligarchic government.
- The modern British oligarchy—particularly during periods of Tory rule—has been called a chumocracy.
oligarchy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Kannada
oligarchy in Hindi
- government by only a few
- अल्पतंत्र alpatantra, अल्पजनाधिपत्य alpajnādhipatya, ओलिगार्की oligārkī
oligarchy in Tamil
- சிலரால் நடத்தப்படும் ஆட்சி, சிலராட்சி
oligarchy in Bengali
- অল্পতন্ত্র, মুষ্টিমেয় লোকের শাসন
oligarchy in Kannada
- ಮಿತಜನತಂತ್ರ, ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾಪ್ರಭುತ್ವ, ಕೆಲವರ ರಾಜ್ಯಭಾರ, ಮಿತಜನತಂತ್ರದ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರ
More languagesFewer languages
- oligarchy in Tagalog
- untipunuan, oligarkiya
- oligarchy in Arabic
- أُولِيغَارْكِي ʔūlīḡārkī
- oligarchy in Indonesian
- oligarki
- oligarchy in Persian
- الیگارشی oligârši, جرگهسالاران jarge-salaran
- oligarchy in Thai
- คณาธิปไตย ká-naa-tí-bpà-dtai
Examples of oligarchy in a sentence
- The Itasca Project is just one example of existing oligarchy, and a surprisingly open one at that.2016 January 17, Malcolm Harris, “Wealthy cabals run America”, in Al Jazeera America, archived from the original on 23 Aug 2017, retrieved...
- And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.2025 November 5, Zohran Mamdani, “The Full Transcript of Zohran Mamdani’s Victory Speech”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New...
Forms of oligarchy
| plural | oligarchies |
|---|
Origin of oligarchy
Borrowed from French oligarchie, from Late Latin oligarchia, from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarkhía), from ὀλίγος (olígos, “few”) + ἀρχή (arkhḗ, “rule”). By surface analysis, oligo- (“few”) + -archy (“rule, command”).
Words formed from oligarchy
Questions about oligarchy
- What does oligarchy mean?
- Oligarchy means a government run by and for only a few, often the aristocracy, the wealthy, or their friends and associates.
- What is oligarchy in Hindi?
- Oligarchy in Hindi is अल्पतंत्र (alpatantra), अल्पजनाधिपत्य (alpajnādhipatya), ओलिगार्की (oligārkī). See Oligarchy meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use oligarchy in a sentence?
- The Itasca Project is just one example of existing oligarchy, and a surprisingly open one at that.
- What part of speech is oligarchy?
- Oligarchy is a noun.
- How do you pronounce oligarchy?
- Oligarchy is pronounced /ˈɒlɪˌɡɑːki/ (UK).
- What is the plural of oligarchy?
- The plural of oligarchy is oligarchies.
Words near oligarchy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: oligarchy (page history and authors); oligarchy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); oligarchy (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); oligarchy (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-oligarchy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “oligarchy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/oligarchy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.