democracy (dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ
)
Definitions
noun
- government by the people or their elected representatives
- a political or social unit governed ultimately by all its members
- the practice or spirit of social equality
- a social condition of classlessness and equality
- the common people, esp as a political force
Word Origin
C16: from French démocratie, from Late Latin dēmocratia, from Greek dēmokratia government by the people; see demo-, -cracySynonyms
View thesaurus entry=
self-government,
republic,
commonwealth,
autonomy,
representative government constitutional government government by the people elective government
Quotations
"To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary"
"My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest should have the same opportunity as the strongest"
"Democracy ... is a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequals alike"
"Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible; but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary"
"After each war there is a little less democracy to save"
"Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being"
"Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking"
"Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time"
"Democracy is the name we give the people whenever we need them"
"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few"
"All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy"
"government of the people, by the people, and for the people"
"Democratic nations care but little for what has been, but they are haunted by visions of what will be"
"Two Cheers for Democracy: one because it admits variety and two because it permits criticism. Two cheers are quite enough: there is no occasion to give three"
"Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated"
Translations
- British English:
democracy
Democracy is a political system in which people choose their government by voting for them in elections....the spread of democracy in the region.dɪˈmɒkrəsɪ NOUN ...the spread of democracy in the region.
- Spanish:
democracia
nf
- French:
démocratie
nf
- German:
Demokratie
nf
- Chinese: 民主 n
- Arabic: دِيـمُقْرَاطِيَّة n
- Portuguese: democracia nf
- Russian: демократия nf
- Croatian: demokracija nf
- Czech: demokracie nf
- Danish: demokrati nnt
- Dutch: democratie nf
- Finnish: demokratia n
- Greek: δημοκρατία nf
- Italian: democrazia nf
- Japanese: 民主主義 n
- Korean: 민주주의 n
- Norwegian: demokrati nnt
- Polish: demokracja nf
- Brazilian Portuguese: democracia nf
- European Spanish:
democracia
nf
- Swedish: demokrati nutr
- Thai: ประชาธิปไตย n
- Turkish: demokrasi n
- Vietnamese: sự dân chủ n
Usage examples
Swapping class hatreds with the Brothers was not her idea of striking a blow for democracy.
, The Endless Game (1986)Gaullist president Jacques Chirac has displayed a similar contempt for democracy in his refusal to debate Le Pen.
Spiked (2002)Mr Chirac has cast himself as the saviour of democracy , human rights and his country's honour.
Irish Times (2002)It's essentially looking at globalisation as a crisis in representative democracy.
Glasgow Herald (2001)The second is that democracy has the potential to be politically engaging.
, THE AGE OF CONSENT (2003)