Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use democracy in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun

Democracy means rule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as. Example: “Democracy must balance the rights of the few against the will of the many.”

Examples of democracy by meaning

nounRule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as.

  • 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 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
  • It was democracy in its purest form.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 24

nounA 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
  • 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

nounA 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...
  • The United States was founded as a republic, not a democracy.2018 March, Yascha Mounk, “America Is Not a Democracy”, in The Atlantic

nounBelief in political freedom and equality; the "spirit of democracy".

  • 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

More sentences with democracy

  • Democracy must balance the rights of the few against the will of the many.From the entry many
  • British parliamentary democracy was seen as a model for other countries to follow.From the entry model
  • The great Usonian Life, the universal life of our own true democracy.From the entry usonian
  • Representative democracy is better than any other system.From the entry any
  • Public confidence in politicians must underpin our democracy.From the entry underpin
  • In the postcolonial period, democracy alternated with military rule.From the entry postcolonial
  • The heart and soul of any democracy is its electorate.From the entry heart and soul
  • Athens was the fons et origo of democracy.From the entry fons et origo
  • The UK is a parliamentary democracy.From the entry parliamentary
  • This refers to Republican officials that advocate fascism: they support overthrowing democracy or discarding the US Constitution.2026, Richard Stallman, “Glossary”, in stallman.org. From the entry seditious
  • Worldwide, democracy has receded to its lowest levels since the mid-70s.2026 March 17, Martin Gelin, “‘Trump is aiming for dictatorship’. That’s the verdict of the world’s most credible democracy watchdog”, in…. From the entry autocratise
  • In fact, it is the most sure-fire way to destroy democracy.2025 February 14, JD Vance, “Munich security conference speech in full”, in The Telegraph. From the entry sure-fire
  • How that impacts Asia’s most stable democracy will become clearer only in the weeks ahead.2025 July 24, Ned Temko, “In Japan, too, voters want their country to be ‘great again’”, in The Christian Science Monitor, archived from…. From the entry bloc
  • Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.”2024 September 4, Athena Stavrou, “What is the sexist theory shared by Elon Musk for a republic of ‘high-status males’”, in The Independent. From the entry aneurotypical
  • He pledged “our unwavering and unflagging commitment to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”2023 February 20, Eliot A. Cohen, quoting Joe Biden, “Biden Just Destroyed Putin’s Last Hope”, in The Atlantic. From the entry unflagging
  • For Marshall, law possessed a talismanic quality, representing all that was best in American democracy.2021 July 14, Stephen L. Carter, “What Thurgood Marshall Taught Me”, in The New York Times. From the entry talismanic
  • Now the war was a struggle between democracy and fascism, one the United States must immediately join.2020 March 19, David Frum, “No Empathy, Only Anger”, in The Atlantic. From the entry party line
  • Military still holds sway in a democracy that has yet to mature.2019 June 8, Toru Takahashi, “Prayuth's return as prime minister takes Thailand back to 1980s”, in Nikkei Asian Review, Nikkei Inc…. From the entry sway
  • Eribon could also have been talking about the left-behinds in any Western democracy.2017, Edward Luce, The Retreat of Western Liberalism, →ISBN, page 111. From the entry left-behind
  • By your actions you have betrayed the quintessence of our country, its adherence to parliamentary democracy.2016 November 23, Alan Wilkie (judge), R v Thomas Mair, sentencing remarks. From the entry affect
  • Government by referendum is government by crowd acclamation: not democracy, but ochlocracy.2016 July 1, A[nthony] C[lifford] Grayling, “Professor A C Grayling’s letter to all 650 MPs urging Parliament not to support a motion to…. From the entry ochlocracy
  • American democracy still prefers candidates to go from door to door and picnic to picnic, shaking hands.2016 February 2, Timothy Stanley, “Donald Trump bid badly wounded in Iowa”, in CNN, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2016. From the entry self-confessed
  • So maybe it’s time to consider an alternative to democracy called epistocracy.2016, “Can Epistocracy, or knowledge-based voting, fix the problems with democracy?”, in Los Angeles Times. From the entry epistocracy
  • In a democracy, every citizen gets an equal right to vote.2016, “Can Epistocracy, or knowledge-based voting, fix the problems with democracy?”, in Los Angeles Times. From the entry epistocracy
  • It is a creative activity that cherishes democracy by holding power to account.2015 April 7, Roy Greenslade, “Democracy will die if professional journalists go to the wall”, in The Guardian. From the entry robotise
  • Democracies did particularly badly against lateralism, because their politicians were working to very short agendas.2015, John Joseph Adams, Loosed Upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction, →ISBN. From the entry lateralism
  • Part I documents the rise of lettermarking and explains how lettermarks damage American democracy.2015 April, James Dawson, “Curbing Lettermarks”, in Yale Journal on Regulation, volume 32, number 1. From the entry lettermark
  • Directly after the return to democracy, a recourse of inconstitutionality was submitted to the Supreme Court.2015, Annelen Micus, The Inter-American Human Rights System as a Safeguard for Justice in National Transitions, page 279. From the entry inconstitutionality
  • In addition, a more pluralist system in a large diverse democracy should foster aggregation, compromise, and tolerance.2014, Bruce E. Cain, Democracy More or Less. From the entry pluralist
  • After 79 days, Occupy Central — the protests for democracy that swarmed Hong Kong — is gone.2014 December 16, Nick Kirkpatrick, Justin Wm. Moyer, “Hong Kong’s Occupy Central protest is no more”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN…. From the entry Tiananmen Square

Meaning of democracy

  1. noun Rule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as.
  2. noun A form of government where the people elect representatives who propose and approve laws and administer the government on their behalf (representative democracy).
  3. noun A form of government where the people vote directly on laws and government decisions (direct democracy).

Full definition of democracy

Questions about democracy in a sentence

How do you use democracy in a sentence?
Democracy is used as a noun. For example: “Democracy must balance the rights of the few against the will of the many.”
What is a short sentence with democracy?
“The UK is a parliamentary democracy.”
What does democracy mean?
Democracy means rule by the people, especially as a form of government, such as.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: democracy (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this page: “How to use democracy in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/democracy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.