anarchy

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“
A sounder explanation discovers the causes less in despotism than in anarchy--anarchy in every department where it could be most ruinous.

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Absence of any form of political authority.
  2. noun Political disorder and confusion.
  3. noun Absence of any cohesive principle, such as a common standard or purpose.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • A sounder explanation discovers the causes less in despotism than in anarchy--anarchy in every department where it could be most ruinous. —  Critical Miscellanies (Vol. 2 of 3) Essay 3: Condorcet
  • A lawless nobility kept the country in anarchy, and religious persecution, which had disappeared elsewhere, was still rampant. —  The Story of Russia
  • This means anarchy, and society becomes like a bundle of sticks with the cord cut. —  Friendship
  • Selfishness results in anarchy, a reversion to the Ishmaelite type of life The story of the French Revolution has in it some of the darkest pages in the history of modern civilization, due to the breakdown of social trust. —  Friendship
  • Indispensable these vestments are; for without them society would collapse in anarchy, and humanity sink to the level of the brute. —  Sartor Resartus, and On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bloodshed ·  oppression ·  strife ·  discord ·  unrest ·  mutiny ·  desolation ·  rebellion ·  turmoil ·  despotism ·  chaos ·  lawlessness
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. New Latin anarchia, from Greek anarkhiā, from anarkhos, without a ruler : an-, without; see a-1 + arkhos, ruler; see -arch.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French anarchie, from Gr.ἀναρχία, lack of a ruler or of government, anarchy, from ἂναρχος, without a ruler or chief, from ἀν- privative + ἀρχός, a ruler, ἄρχή, rule, government, from ἂρχειν, rule, be first: see arch-. Cf. monarchy.
 

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/ˈænərki/
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