Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Government by the masses; mob rule.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The rule or ascendancy of the multitude or common people; mobocracy; mob-rule.
Wiktionary
- n. Mob rule; government by the masses; mobocracy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A form of government by the multitude; a mobocracy;
mob rule .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a political system in which a mob is the source of control; government by the masses
Etymologies
- Originated 1475-1485, from Middle French ochlocratie, from Ancient Greek ὀχλοκρατία (okhlokratia), from ὄχλος (okhlos, "multitude, crowd") + κράτος (kratos, "power"). (Wiktionary)
- French ochlocratie, from Greek okhlokratiā : okhlos, mob; see wegh- in Indo-European roots + -kratiā, -cracy. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“a democracy that departed from the civil and political equality which was its supposed basis, and gave ascendancy to a faction, was sometimes designated by the term ochlocracy, or the dominion of the rabble.”
“The latter is rightly called "ochlocracy" -- mob rule.”
“If we lived in a mobocracy (also known as ochlocracy) we would vote and the majority would rule on every little issue.”
“ochlocracy," or government by the mob, in which the numbers have no real share: an oligarchy of the fiercest, the noisiest, the rashest, and the most shameless, which is surely swallowed up either by a despotism, as in”
“This is called grandstanding for the sake of ochlocracy.”
“There can be ochlocracy in bicameral systems & democracy in unicameral ones. urgs Says:”
“Democratic process in pre-enlightenment society inevitably produces the worst kind of tyranny: tyranny of the fanatical mob what Plato named “ochlocracy”.”
Obama and the law: about that little thing called “procedure”
“According to Polybius, the kyklos, or political cycle, rotates through three forms of government — democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy — and the degenerate forms of each of those three — ochlocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny:”
“Sadly, the country is terrorized and under control of ochlocracy.”
“Sadly, the country is terrorized and under control of ochlocracy. ”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ochlocracy’.
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Additional 250 Spelling Words
Words for the diehard intermediate and advanced spellers
facetiae, sagittary, anthophilous, hydromancy, pandect, carillonneur, tabbouleh, litterateur, windgall, pinguid, tressure, moderne and 238 more...
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phrontistery - o
from phrontistery.info
ozostomia, ozoniferous, oxytone, oxytocic, oxyphonia, oxymoron, oxygeusia, oxyblepsia, oxyacanthous, oxter, oxyacaesthesia, owling and 504 more...
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briwref's list
defalcation, macerate, beldam, nescience, ochlocracy, bibelot, estivate, spatulated, introversive, mastoidal, belletristic, objurgation and 108 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Forms of government
tyranny, tribal, totalitarianism, timocracy, theocracy, thallassocracy, cyberocracy, technocracy, sociocracy, socialist state, republic, puppet state and 37 more...
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Forms of Government
A handful of -ocracies.
adhocracy, androcracy, aristocracy, autocracy, cleptocracy, corpocracy, democracy, ethnocracy, gerontocracy, gynecocracy, gyneocracy, gynocracy and 31 more...
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Les Misérables
A selection of words from the epic by Victor Hugo
perquisites, dispensations, execrate, spikenard, fireplaace, effeminate foppery, delaine, hoarfrost, lackadaisicalness, ort, geldings, milch and 103 more...
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Wordplayer's Wonderful Words
chaparral, grotesque, knork, newsmonger, thitherwards, fackeltanz, kakistocracy, sforzando, compendium, frump, inquere, phosphene and 100 more...
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ikahime's Words
callipygian, squidocracy, epicene, alkahest, syzygy, pysmatic, ideopraxist, quandary, vulpine, fandango, ataraxia, exsanguinate and 92 more...
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Machiavelli's list
Machiavellian terminology
rastaquouere, abulia, predeliction, predisposition, callipygian, kakistocracy, ochlocracy, diepnophilia, omniscient
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 850 more...
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Papageno's Words, Pt. I
hobbledehoy, absquatulate, chthonic, prolix, ululate, internecine, verisimilitude, animadversion, concupiscence, vertiginous, cucullate, lucubrate and 1554 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
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obscure words
Words which I have some trouble comprehending or finding a synonym.
truculent, wheedle, iniquitous, brusque, pellucid, demur, peremptory, spiel, bathos, rigmarole, glower, scabrous and 107 more...
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EN - funny (single) words
"Fornication" is not equal to "formication".
Words with funny meaning, spelling or both.biffy, bibcock, barratry, bastinado, bezonian, bibliobibuli, bodewash, boeotian, boondoggle, borborygmic, bosky, brobdingnagian and 729 more...
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richardr's Words
marmoreal, osteology, tyromancy, metalepsis, idioglossia, tapinosis, epicaricacy, carromancy, rogation, senex, aulic, gemütlichkeit and 279 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ochlocracy.
bilby Duke of Cumberland pretty much put an end to that. Jun 14, 2008
yarb Or rule by scotsmen. Jun 14, 2008
asativum This sounds like rule by punctuality. Jun 14, 2008