Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
- noun Those making up such a government.
- noun A state governed by a few persons.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the hands of a small exclusive class; also, collectively, those who form such a class or body.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A form of government in which the supreme power is placed in the hands of a few persons; also, those who form the ruling few.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
government run by only a few, often thewealthy . - noun Those who make up an
oligarchic government. - noun A state ruled by such a government.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a political system governed by a few people
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From French oligarchie, from Latin oligarchia, from Ancient Greek ὀλιγαρχία (oligarchia), from ὀλίγος (oligos, "few") + ἀρχή (archē, "rule"). From oligo- + -archy
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Examples
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