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anarchy - 4 dictionary results

an⋅ar⋅chy

  [an-er-kee]
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–noun
1. a state of society without government or law.
2. political and social disorder due to the absence of governmental control: The death of the king was followed by a year of anarchy.
3. a theory that regards the absence of all direct or coercive government as a political ideal and that proposes the cooperative and voluntary association of individuals and groups as the principal mode of organized society.
4. confusion; chaos; disorder: Intellectual and moral anarchy followed his loss of faith.
Origin:
1530–40; (< MF anarchie or ML anarchia) < Gk, anarchía lawlessness, lit., lack of a leader, equiv. to ánarch(os) leaderless (an- an- 1 + arch(ós) leader + -os adj. suffix) + -ia -y 3
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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an·ar·chy   (ān'ər-kē)   
n.   pl. an·ar·chies
  1. Absence of any form of political authority.
  2. Political disorder and confusion.
  3. Absence of any cohesive principle, such as a common standard or purpose.

[New Latin anarchia, from Greek anarkhiā, from anarkhos, without a ruler : an-, without; see a-1 + arkhos, ruler; see -arch.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Anarchy

An"arch*y\, n. [Gr. ?: cf. F. anarchie. See Anarch.]

1. Absence of government; the state of society where there is no law or supreme power; a state of lawlessness; political confusion.

Spread anarchy and terror all around. --Cowper.

2. Hence, confusion or disorder, in general.

There being then . . . an anarchy, as I may term it, in authors and their re?koning of years. --Fuller.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : anarchy
Spanish: anarquía,
German: die Anarchie,
Japanese: 無政府
More Translations »

anarchy 
1539, from M.L. anarchia, from Gk. anarkhia "lack of a leader," noun of state from anarkhos "rulerless," from an- "without" + arkhos "leader" (see archon). Anarchist (1678) got a boost into modernity from the French Revolution. Anarcho-syndicalism is first recorded 1913.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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