Republic - Definitions from Dictionary.com

17 results for: Republic

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

re·pub·lic

Audio Help [ri-puhb-lik] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.

2.	any body of persons viewed as a commonwealth.

3.	a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state.

4.	(initial capital letter) any of the five periods of republican government in France. Compare First Republic, Second Republic, Third Republic, Fourth Republic, Fifth Republic.

5.	(initial capital letter, italics) a philosophical dialogue (4th century b.c.) by Plato dealing with the composition and structure of the ideal state.

[Origin: 1595–1605; < F république, MF < L rés pūblica, equiv. to rés thing, entity + pūblica public

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Republic

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

re·pub·lic Audio Help (rĭ-pŭb'lĭk) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A political order whose head of state is not a monarch and in modern times is usually a president.
2. A nation that has such a political order.
3. A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
4. A nation that has such a political order.
1. A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them.
2. A nation that has such a political order.
often Republic A specific republican government of a nation: the Fourth Republic of France.
An autonomous or partially autonomous political and territorial unit belonging to a sovereign federation.
A group of people working as equals in the same sphere or field: the republic of letters.

[French république, from Old French, from Latin rēspūblica : rēs, thing; see rē- in Indo-European roots + pūblica, feminine of pūblicus, of the people; see public.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
republic

1604, "state in which supreme power rests in the people," from Fr. république, from L. respublica (abl. republica), lit. res publica "public interest, the state," from res "affair, matter, thing" + publica, fem. of publicus "public" (see public). Republican (adj.) "belonging to a republic" is recorded from 1712; in noun sense of "one who favors a republic" it is recorded from 1697; and in sense of a member of a specific U.S. political party (the Anti-Federalists) from 1782, though this was not the ancestor of the modern Republican Party, which dates from 1854. Republicrat in U.S. political jargon usually meaning "moderate," is attested from 1940.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

republic
noun
1.	a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them [syn: democracy]
2.	a form of government whose head of state is not a monarch; "the head of state in a republic is usually a president"

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
republic [rəˈpablik] noun

(a country with) a form of government in which there is no king or queen, the power of government, law-making etc being given to one or more elected representatives (eg a president, members of a parliament etc)
Example: The United States is a republic — the United Kingdom is not.

Arabic:	جُمْهورِيَّه
Chinese (Simplified):	共和国
Chinese (Traditional):	共和國
Czech:	republika
Danish:	republik
Dutch:	republiek
Estonian:	vabariik
Finnish:	tasavalta
French:	république
German:	die Republik
Greek:	δημοκρατία
Hungarian:	köztársaság
Icelandic:	lÿðveldi
Indonesian:	republik
Italian:	repubblica

Japanese:	共和制
Korean:	공화국
Latvian:	republika
Lithuanian:	respublika
Norwegian:	republikk
Polish:	republika
Portuguese (Brazil):	república
Portuguese (Portugal):	república
Romanian:	republică
Russian:	республика
Slovak:	republika
Slovenian:	republika
Spanish:	república
Swedish:	republik
Turkish:	cumhuriyet

See also: republican

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
republic

A form of government in which power is explicitly vested in the people, who in turn exercise their power through elected representatives. Today, the terms republic and democracy are virtually interchangeable, but historically the two differed. Democracy implied direct rule by the people, all of whom were equal, whereas republic implied a system of government in which the will of the people was mediated by representatives, who might be wiser and better educated than the average person. In the early American republic, for example, the requirement that voters own property and the establishment of institutions such as the Electoral College were intended to cushion the government from the direct expression of the popular will.

[Chapter:] World Politics

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

U.S. Gazetteer - Cite This Source - Share This

Republic County, KS (county, FIPS 157) Location: 39.82816 N, 97.65027 W
Population (1990): 6482 (3283 housing units)
Area: 1855.9 sq km (land), 9.9 sq km (water)

Republic, WA (town, FIPS 57850) Location: 48.64906 N, 118.73185 W
Population (1990): 940 (460 housing units)
Area: 4.1 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 99166

Republic, PA (CDP, FIPS 64224) Location: 39.96483 N, 79.87662 W
Population (1990): 1603 (734 housing units)
Area: 1.9 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 15475

Republic, OH (village, FIPS 66320) Location: 41.12476 N, 83.01608 W
Population (1990): 611 (235 housing units)
Area: 2.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 44867

Republic, MO (city, FIPS 61238) Location: 37.11730 N, 93.47512 W
Population (1990): 6292 (2431 housing units)
Area: 10.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 65738

Republic, MI Zip code(s): 49879

Republic, KS (city, FIPS 59000) Location: 39.92365 N, 97.82439 W
Population (1990): 177 (119 housing units)
Area: 0.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 66964

Port Republic, VA Zip code(s): 24471

Port Republic, NJ (city, FIPS 60600) Location: 39.53801 N, 74.48716 W
Population (1990): 992 (372 housing units)
Area: 20.0 sq km (land), 2.7 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 08241

Port Republic, MD Zip code(s): 20676

U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Republic

Re*pub"lic\ (r?-p?b"l?k), n. [F. r['e]publique, L. respublica commonwealth; res a thing, an affair + publicus, publica, public. See Real, a., and Public.]

1. Common weal. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.

2. A state in which the sovereign power resides in the whole body of the people, and is exercised by representatives elected by them; a commonwealth. Cf. Democracy, 2.

Note: In some ancient states called republics the sovereign power was exercised by an hereditary aristocracy or a privileged few, constituting a government now distinctively called an aristocracy. In some there was a division of authority between an aristocracy and the whole body of the people except slaves. No existing republic recognizes an exclusive privilege of any class to govern, or tolerates the institution of slavery.

Republic of letters, The collective body of literary or learned men.

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