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What Is Democracy
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
de·moc·ra·cy    Audio Help   [di-mok-ruh-see] Pronunciation Key
–noun, plural -cies.
1.government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
2.a state having such a form of government: The United States and Canada are democracies.
3.a state of society characterized by formal equality of rights and privileges.
4.political or social equality; democratic spirit.
5.the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.

[Origin: 1525–35; < MF démocratie < LL démocratia < Gk démokratía popular government, equiv. to démo- demo- + -kratia -cracy]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
democracy

To learn more about democracy visit Britannica.com

© 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
de·moc·ra·cy    Audio Help   (dĭ-mŏk'rə-sē)  Pronunciation Key 
n.   pl. de·moc·ra·cies
  1. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
  2. A political or social unit that has such a government.
  3. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
  4. Majority rule.
  5. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.


[French démocratie, from Late Latin dēmocratia, from Greek dēmokratiā : dēmos, people; see dā- in Indo-European roots + -kratiā, -cracy.]

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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
democracy 
1574, from M.Fr. democratie, from M.L. democratia (13c.), from Gk. demokratia, from demos "common people," originally "district" (see demotic), + kratos "rule, strength" (see -cracy). Democratic for one of the two major U.S. political parties is 1829, though members of the Democratic-Republican (formerly Anti-Federal) party had been called Democrats since 1798; though colloquial abbrev. Demo dates to 1793.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
democracy

noun
1. the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives 
2. a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them 
3. the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group [syn: majority rule

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
democracy [diˈmokrəsi] nounplural deˈmocracies
(a country having) a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them
Example: Which is the world's largest democracy?; He believes in democracy.
Arabic: ديموقْراطِيَّه، حُكْم الشَّعْب
Chinese (Simplified): 民主
Chinese (Traditional): 民主
Czech: demokracie
Danish: demokrati
Dutch: democratie
Estonian: demokraatia
Finnish: demokratia
French: démocratie
German: die Demokratie
Greek: δημοκρατία
Hungarian: demokrácia
Icelandic: lÿðræði, lÿðræðisríki
Indonesian: demokrasi
Italian: democrazia
Japanese: 民主主義
Latvian: demokrātija, demokrātisms
Lithuanian: demokratija, demokratinė šalis
Norwegian: demokrati, folkestyre
Polish: demokracja
Portuguese (Brazil): democracia
Portuguese (Portugal): democracia
Romanian: democraţie
Russian: демократия
Slovak: demokracia
Slovenian: demokracija
Spanish: democracia
Swedish: demokrati
Turkish: demokrasi
See also: democrat, democratic, democratically

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary, © 2000-2006 K Dictionaries Ltd.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
democracy

A system of government in which power is vested in the people, who rule either directly or through freely elected representatives.

Note: Democratic institutions, such as parliaments, may exist in a monarchy. Such constitutional monarchies as Britain, Canada, and Sweden are generally counted as democracies in practice.

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

Democracy

De*moc"ra*cy\, n.; pl. Democracies. [F. d['e]mocratie, fr. Gr. dhmokrati`a; dh^mos the people + kratei^n to be strong, to rule, kra`tos strength.]

1. Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people.

2. Government by popular representation; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but is indirectly exercised through a system of representation and delegated authority periodically renewed; a constitutional representative government; a republic.

3. Collectively, the people, regarded as the source of government. --Milton.

4. The principles and policy of the Democratic party, so called. [U.S.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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