democracy

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives.
2. n. A political or social unit that has such a government.
3. n. The common people, considered as the primary source of political power.
4. n. Majority rule.
5. n. The principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Government by the people; a system of government in which the sovereign power of the state is vested in the people as a whole, and is exercised directly by them or their elected agents.
2. n. A state or civil body in which the people themselves exercise all legislative authority, and confer all executive and judicial powers, either by direct collective action or through elected representatives. Athens and some of the other ancient Greek states, and, within the limits of their power, the canton of Appenzell in Switzerland and the towns of the northern United States, are instances of democracies of the first class. In democratic republics generally, however, all power is exercised by delegated authority. See repuiblic.
3. n. Political and social equality in general; a state of society in which no hereditary differences of rank or privilege are recognized: opposed to aristocracy.
4. n. [capitalized] In United States political history:
5. n. The system of principles held by the Democratic party. See democratic.
6. n. The members of the Democratic party collectively.
7. n. In a collective sense, the people; especially, the people regarded as exercising political powers.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable Rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives (representative democracy).
2. n. countable, government A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction.
3. n. uncountable Belief in political freedom and equality; the "spirit of democracy".

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by the people.
2. n. 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. n. Collectively, the people, regarded as the source of government.
4. n. U.S. The principles and policy of the Democratic party, so called.

WordNet 3.0

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