Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A hereditary ruling class; nobility.
- noun Government by a ruling class.
- noun A state or country having this form of government.
- noun Government by the citizens deemed to be best qualified to lead.
- noun A state having such a government.
- noun A group or class considered superior to others.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Government by the best men in the state; a governing body composed of the best men in the state.
- noun A form of government in which the supreme power is exercised by those members of the state who are distinguished by their rank and opulence.
- noun A body of persons holding exceptional prescriptive rank or privileges; specifically, a class of hereditary nobility; the nobles of a country and those nearly related to them.
- noun Persons noted for superiority in any character or quality, taken collectively: as, the aristocracy of wealth or of culture.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Government by the best citizens.
- noun obsolete A ruling body composed of the best citizens.
- noun A form a government, in which the supreme power is vested in the principal persons of a state, or in a privileged order; an oligarchy.
- noun The nobles or chief persons in a state; a privileged class or patrician order; (in a popular use) those who are regarded as superior to the rest of the community, as in rank, fortune, or intellect.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
nobility , or thehereditary ruling class - noun
Government by such a class, or astate with such a government - noun A
class of peopleconsidered (not normallyuniversally )superior to others
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the most powerful members of a society
- noun a privileged class holding hereditary titles
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Let no one exclaim against aristocracy; were we all perfectly _equal to-day_, there would be an _aristocracy to-morrow_.
Sanders' Union Fourth Reader Charles W. Sanders
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The agenda of the aristocracy is the destruction of western civilization.
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Rousseau's preference was for what he calls aristocracy, a government of the most wise and experienced.
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On one side the ultras, whose objection to transfer a portion of the Royal authority to what they call the aristocracy, occupy nearly all the posts which influence the operations of the electoral assemblies.
Memoirs To Illustrate The History Of My Time Volume 1 John William Cole 1830
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"You have no doubt remarked," said Florestan, with a smile, "that the persons assembled here this evening do not belong to what we call the aristocracy --"
A Cardinal Sin Eug��ne Sue 1830
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The Latin American aristocracy - for the most part, and for most of the last two centuries - has combined the worst aspects of aristocracy with the worst aspects of capitalism, and has exhibited the better aspects of neither one.
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Throw the whole our way or the highway rant out the window and look where America's new aristocracy is holding thier winter meeting.
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The Latin American aristocracy - for the most part, and for most of the last two centuries - has combined the worst aspects of aristocracy with the worst aspects of capitalism, and has exhibited the better aspects of neither one.
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The word aristocracy appeared late in our language, arriving via France in the mid-sixteenth century.
'Aristocrats' 2010
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If you want that maybe you should hop in a time machine and go back to pre-revolutionary France where aristocracy is the goverment of choice.
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word aristocracy
Does anyone else have fun saying this?
July 17, 2009
yarb commented on the word aristocracy
*raises hand*
July 18, 2009