democracyn.

Brit.

/dᵻˈmɒkrəsi/, U.S.

/dᵻˈmɑkrəsi/

Forms: late Middle English–1600s democracie, 1500s–1600s democrasie, 1500s–1600s democratie, 1500s–1600s democraty, 1500s– democracy, 1600s democrity, 1600s–1700s democrasy. Also (chiefly in sense 3) with capital initial.

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French democratie.

Etymology: < Middle French democracie, democratie (French démocratie ) government by the people (c1370), a state or polity with a democratic system of government (a1374) < post-classical Latin democratia (4th cent.) < ancient Greek δημοκρατία popular government < δῆμος the commons, the people (see demos n.) + -κρατια -cracy comb. form. Compare Spanish democracia (a1550), Portuguese democracía (1675), Italian democrazia (a1525), and also Dutch democratie (1583), German Demokratie (1592 as democraty; 1536 as democratia with Latin inflectional ending), Swedish demokrati (1596; in early use often with Latin inflectional endings).Compare the following early examples, which show a parallel borrowing of the Latin or Greek word:1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. ii. sig. Avi^v An other publique weale was amonge the Atheniensis, where equalitie was of astate amonge the people... This maner of gouernaunce was called in greke Democratia, in latin Popularis potentia, in englisshe, the rule of the comminaltie.1545 E. Walshe Office & Duety Fighting for Countrey sig. B.vi^v Wherfore the said Demosthenes extolleth with high praise, the order taken for soche in the common wele of Democratia.1586 G. Whetstone Eng. Myrror 83 The Swizers..euer since haue bene gouerned, by that base gouerment, called Democratia, where mecanical people haue the only segniorie.In sense 3 after democrat n. 2; compare slightly later democratic adj. 2.

a. Government by the people; esp. a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity (or, esp. formerly, a subset of them meeting particular conditions) are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly; (more generally) a system of decision-making within an institution, organization, etc., in which all members have the right to take part or vote. In later use often more widely, with reference to the conditions characteristically obtaining under such a system: a form of society in which all citizens have equal rights, ignoring hereditary distinctions of class or rank, and the views of all are tolerated and respected; the principle of fair and equal treatment of everyone in a state, institution, organization, etc. Cf. majority rule n. at majority n.¹ Compounds 2, people n. 3a, 3c.In early use democracy is usually associated with republicanism, esp. classical republics (such as Athens and Rome), republican states of early modern Europe (such as Switzerland, Venice, and the Dutch Republic), and later the post-revolutionary republics in France and the United States. It is typically used in (explicit or implicit) contrast with terms denoting other systems of government derived from classical Greek and Latin political terminology, as aristocracy, monarchy, and oligarchy, and in these contexts often has negative connotations of disorder or anarchy (see, e.g., quots. a1500 and 1792, and compare the early figurative examples at sense 1c). From the 19th cent., the term increasingly develops positive connotations of egalitarianism, freedom, and the rule of law (see, e.g., quots. 1836, 2011), and in the 20th cent. comes to be used more typically in contrast with systems of government seen as lacking in or inimical to those qualities (such as dictatorship or anarchy), describing both republics and constitutional monarchies.liberal, participant, participatory, social democracy: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > government by the people or their delegates > [noun]

democracya1500

popularity1546

popular state1546

populacy1632

demarchy1643

liberal democracy1787

mass democracy1932

a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 56 (MED) Tyranny, Aristogracye, in which fewe men will reule by iustice, Oligracie, Tymotracie, and Democracie, which shulde gouerne the vniuersall people, ys now withowt ordre.

1576 A. Fleming tr. Peisistratus in Panoplie Epist. 198 Democracie, when the multitude have governement.

1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 582 Democratie [Fr. Democratie], where free and poore men being the greater number, are lordes of the estate.

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 267 Were I in Switzerland I would maintaine Democrity.

1664 H. More Apol. in Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 514 Presbytery verges nearer toward Populacy or Democracy.

1703 J. Browne Surgeons Assistant i. iv. 38 We shall many times see the well governed State of Monarchy overcharged and surfeited with the poyson of Aristocracy, or Democracy.

1792 H. L. Piozzi Diary 20 Aug. in Thraliana (1942) II. 45 I am much of the same mind, if the Bulk of France really delights in Anarchical Democracy.

1796 Eng. Rev. Aug. 146 When men smart under despotic rule, they praise the justice and equality that are at least held forth as the principles of democracy.

1821 Ld. Byron Jrnl. 1 May in Lett. & Jrnls. (1978) VIII. 107 It is still more difficult to say which form of Government is the worst—all are so bad.—As for democracy it is the worst of the whole—for what is (in fact) democracy? an Aristocracy of Blackguards.

1836 T. P. Thompson Let. 22 Oct. in Lett. to Constituents 130 Democracy means the community's governing through its representatives for its own benefit.

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. cvii. 549 I doubt whether democracy tends to discourage originality, subtlety, refinement, in thought and in expression.

1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 25 Nov. 3/1 ‘Progress of all through all, under the leading of the best and wisest’, was his [sc. Mazzini's] definition of democracy.

1937 W. Lippman Good Society ii. vii. 108 The rulers are continually responsible to popular opinion, and unless that opinion is free to change, and in changing to alter the policy of the state, there is no democracy.

1960 S. M. Osgood French Royalism under Third & Fourth Republics iii. 59 The Maurrassian doctrine is at once negative and positive: negative in its indictment of democracy; positive in its formulation of a redeeming monarchy.

1970 Guardian 11 July 11/6 The unanimous decision of a dockers' delegate conference—shop floor democracy at its most democratic.

1979 D. Murphy Wheels within Wheels iii. 47 Twice a week Mrs Mansfield called to drink tea with my mother and deplore the appalling inroads being made by democracy on good manners.

2001 B. Geddes World Food: Caribbean 14 The English have left behind a legacy of parliamentary democracy, afternoon teas and driving on the left hand side of the road.

2011 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Mar. 21/3 In recent years, China's own activists have identified freedom, democracy, human rights, and human dignity as ‘universal values’.

b. A state or polity with a democratic system of government; (more generally) any institution, organization, etc., which is run according to democratic principles.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > a or the state > [noun] > state ruled by the people

democracy1539

commonwealth1542

state1565

free state1567

commonalty1604

republic1604

people-state1606

populacy1632

peopledom1657

commonality1680

rep1701

commonweal1733

pantarchy1870

1539 R. Taverner Garden of Wysdom sig. A.vii One requyred hym, that he wolde make and ordeyne in the citie a Democracie, that is to saye, a gouernaunce of the people.

1573 T. Cartwright Replye to Answere Whitgifte 35 In respecte that the people are not secluded, but haue their interest in churche matters, it is a Democratie, or a populare estate.

1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 627 The States yeerely helde in the Prouinces, the Mairalties of townes, Shreeualties, Consulships, Capitolats, & Church-wardens, are as it were the forme of a Democraty.

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 123 Democraties do not nourish game and pleasures like vnto Monarchies.

1610 Bp. J. Hall Common Apol. against Brownists ix. 23 Nothing..can be more disorderly, then the confusion of your Democracy, or popular state.

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 266 Those antient, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce Democratie .

1737 Gentleman's Mag. June 364/2 If the Ballance [of riches] be in one Man, his Empire is absolute Monarchy..If in the People in general, a Democracy.

1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 342 In the ancient democracies the public business was transacted in the assemblies of the people.

1804–6 S. Smith Elem. Sketches Moral Philos. (1850) xvi. 237 In the fierce and eventful democraties of Greece and Rome.

1881 B. Jowett tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War I. 117 We are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few.

1928 Pop. Mech. Jan. (Advertising section) 114/2 It [sc. the American Telephone and Telegraph Company] is a democracy, for the average holding is only 26 shares.

1958 Economist 8 Feb. 479/1 The Western dislike of time-wasting summitry is due..to a feeling that even an inconclusive get-together would fill the democracies with a false sense of security.

2008 Wired Sept. 44/2 Twitter is a democracy—if users don't like your tweets, they can vote with their PCs and drop your feed.

2009 T. Footman Noughties v. 77 In Western democracies, people were increasingly cynical about conventional political processes.

c. figurative. Originally (depreciative): †a condition or state of affairs in which the proper order of things has been overturned; moral chaos (obsolete). Later: something resembling a democracy in organization, structure, principles, etc., esp. in lacking a pre-established hierarchy.

ΚΠ

1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 82 Tyrannizing as it were over the Democratie of base and vulgar actions.

a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) ix. ii. 388 In wicked men there is a Democracy of wild Lusts and Passions.

1701 E. Ward Kentish Fable Lion & Foxes 3 It is difficult to imagine, that so small a Dose of Loyalty..should operate so Gripingly upon so strong a Body..unless that Body be infected with Democracy.

1848 H. T. Ryde tr. A. de Lamartine Hist. of Girondists III. xlix. 204 Their social constitution is but a republic of interest, and a democracy of manners.

1885 J. Martineau Types Ethical Theory I. 27 All these εἴδη..are not left side by side as a democracy of real being.

1971 J. Gardner Grendel v. 68 This jug is an absolute democracy of atoms.

2008 E. Lupton & J. C. Phillips Graphic Design 175/2 A gridded facade expresses a democracy of elements.

2. Those people who possess no hereditary or special rank or privileged status, collectively; the common or ordinary people; (in later use) spec. the whole body of citizens of a country, regarded as the source of political power; the people.

ΘΚΠ

society > society and the community > social class > the common people > [noun]

folkc888

peoplea1325

frapec1330

commona1350

common peoplea1382

commonsa1382

commontya1387

communityc1400

meiniec1400

commonaltya1425

commonsa1500

vulgarsa1513

many1526

meinie1532

multitude1535

the many-headed beast (also monster)1537

number1542

ignobility1546

commonitya1550

popular1554

populace1572

popularya1578

vulgarity?1577

populacya1583

rout1589

the vulgar1590

plebs1591

mobile vulgusc1599

popularity1599

ignoble1603

the million1604

plebe1612

plebeity1614

the common filea1616

the herda1616

civils1644

commonality1649

democracy1656

menu1658

mobile1676

crowd1683

vulgusa1687

mob1691

Pimlico parliament?1774

citizenry1795

polloi1803

demos1831

many-headed1836

hoi polloi1837

the masses1837

citizenhood1843

John Q.1922

wimble-wamble1937

society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > one who has right to vote > whole body of electors

people1646

electorate1879

democracy1906

1656 J. Stuteville & E. Denton Let. 12 Jan. in M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family Commonwealth (1894) vi. 199 The gentry had need to close neerer together, and make a banke and bulwarke against that Sea of Democracy which is over running them.

1777 Earl of Abingdon Thoughts Let. E. Burke (ed. 6) Ded. p. xlvi Now the Democracy ruled, even without a Competitor.

1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xii. 322 The power of the democracy in that age resided chiefly in the corporations.

1841 T. P. Thompson Exercises (1842) VI. 151 The portion of the people whose injury is the most manifest, have got or taken the title of the ‘democracy’. For nobody that has taken care of himself, is ever, in these days, of the democracy... The political life of the English democracy, may be said to date from the 21st of January 1841.

1868 J. S. Mill Eng. & Ireland 26 When the democracy of one country will join hands with the democracy of another.

1906 J. R. MacDonald in H. H. Tiltman James Ramsay MacDonald (1929) App. 283 The great democracy of the country..has been cajoled by Primrose dames; it has been bribed by candidates on both sides, who had more money than political intelligence.

1940 K. N. Llewellyn in B. Amidon Democracy's Challenge to Educ. iv. 224 Those folk whose education is the education of the democracy for democracy.

1997 M. A. Morrison Slavery & Amer. West i. 21 The chief threat to freedom, it again followed, was the Democracy, who ‘despairing of their own improvement..devote the energies which they should have employed for their own good to the injury of others.’

3. U.S. Politics. Usually with capital initial.

a. The principles and policies of the Democratic Party (see Democratic Party n. at democratic adj. and n. Compounds).Common before mid 20th cent.

ΚΠ

1800 W. Cobbett Porcupine's Wks. (1801) XII. 110 With this I depart for my native land, where neither the moth of Democracy, nor the rust of Federalism doth corrupt.

1825 H. Clay Private Corr. 112 I am [alleged to be] a deserter from democracy.

1879 Rep. U.S. Senate Comm. Elections 1878 II. 413 Q. Do you know of any colored men being converted from Republicanism to Democracy?—A. I don't know of one, sir—not one.

1905 N. Davis Northerner 72 I look for the resurrection of Democracy and the rescinding of the fifteenth amendment.

2001 J. I. Hayes S. Carolina & New Deal ii. 19 Smith was a blend of the agrarianism of William Jennings Bryan, Progressivism of Woodrow Wilson, and traditional Southern Democracy.

b. The Democratic Party and its members. Now chiefly historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun]

partc1385

livery1477

faction1509

partialitya1533

side1566

party1682

set1748

democracy1803

machine party1858

column1906

MNLF1975

1803 Washington Federalist 4 Feb. 1/1 The Republicans in the United States will know how to give credence to the bold assertions of the democrats that this state is fast hastening to join the phalanx of democracy.

1868 G. Rose Great Country 354 That resolution adopted by the Maine Democracy in State Convention at Augusta.

1891 F. B. Williams in J. R. Lowell Writings VIII. 420 McClellan was one of the leaders of the Northern Democracy during the war, and the presidential nominee against Lincoln in 1864.

1939 Fortune Oct. 71/1 Southern Democracy, quite understandably, was bewildered by the complexities of this horde, and a little skeptical.

2010 R. J. Caliendo N.Y. City Mayors 263 The split of the New York Democracy opened the way for the election of a Whig mayor in 1847.

4. Advocacy of democratic principles or ideology; = democratism n. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > principles of or attachment to types of government > [noun] > democratism

popularity1574

democratism1797

democracy1856

1856 D. M. Mulock John Halifax II. ix. 213 It seems..that democracy is rife in your neighbourhood.

a1936 G. K. Chesterton Common Man (1950) i. 9 Their anti-democracy is as much stuffed with cant as their democracy.

1998 K. S. Bharathi Polit. Thought Ambedkar vi. 71 Intelligent devotion to human values is the essence of his democracy and humanism.

Compounds

C1. attributive. Advocating or promoting democracy or democratic reforms.

ΚΠ

1978 Guardian 2 Dec. 1/2 Diplomats in Peking said the Chinese people had been told at special meetings..that the impromptu democracy movement would have to be curtailed.

1990 N.Y. Times 10 July a6/1 Fung Chi-wood, an Anglican priest and well-known democracy campaigner, was convicted of another offense.

1993 Wall Street Jrnl. 6 Oct. a12/3 Mr. Clinton himself accused his predecessor, George Bush, of coddling the government that brutally crushed democracy demonstrators.

2011 Atlantic Monthly June 54/2 Salem is an unusual figure, even among democracy activists in Cairo—he is frankly Americaphilic, in part because he was brought to the United States as a young man through a State Department visitors program.

C2.

democracy deficit n. = democratic deficit n. at democratic adj. and n. Compounds.

ΚΠ

1978 Guardian 27 Sept. 13/4 At a recent meeting of the European Parliament's legal affairs committee, the EEC President, Roy Jenkins, was quizzed on ‘essential constitutional elements for reducing the democracy deficit at Community level’.

1985 Amer. Jrnl. Compar. Law 33 444 The lack of political participation of the electorate and societal groups concerned about the environment in the [European] Community decisionmaking process perpetuates a ‘democracy deficit’.

2006 E. F. Keyman in G. Delanty Europe & Asia beyond East & West xiv. 209 It is true that ‘democracy deficit’ constitutes one of the main characteristics of contemporary Turkish politics, and democracy in Turkey needs to be consolidated.

Democracy Wall n. [after Chinese mínzhǔ qiáng (originally more fully Xīdān mínzhǔ qiáng , with reference to the district in which the wall was located: see quot. 1978) < mínzhǔ democracy + qiáng wall.] now historical a wall in Beijing, China, on which people placed posters, letters, poems, etc., criticizing the communist government and calling for the adoption of democratic reform; (hence) the democracy movement that arose from this in 1978; frequently attributive, esp. in Democracy Wall Movement.Posting messages on the wall was originally permitted by the Chinese authorities, but was eventually prohibited in December 1979.

ΚΠ

1978 Washington Post 28 Nov. a18/3 They want the ‘Hsi Tan democracy wall’ institutionalized as an area of free speech.

1980 Time 10 Nov. 51 Wang belongs..to an unofficial group called the ‘Stars’, which grew out of last year's Democracy Wall movement.

1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 27 Sept. 30/4 Young activists posted independent views on the Democracy Wall in Beijing and were soon arrested..They did not know about Deng Xiaoping's persecution of the participants in the Democracy Wall Movement, or about the Fifth Modernization.

2010 New Yorker 24 May 58/3 He also participated in an incipient political movement called Democracy Wall, in which activists produced magazines and posters calling for reform.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	democracy
释义	democracyn. Brit. /dᵻˈmɒkrəsi/, U.S. /dᵻˈmɑkrəsi/ Forms: late Middle English–1600s democracie, 1500s–1600s democrasie, 1500s–1600s democratie, 1500s–1600s democraty, 1500s– democracy, 1600s democrity, 1600s–1700s democrasy. Also (chiefly in sense 3) with capital initial. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French democratie. Etymology: < Middle French democracie, democratie (French démocratie ) government by the people (c1370), a state or polity with a democratic system of government (a1374) < post-classical Latin democratia (4th cent.) < ancient Greek δημοκρατία popular government < δῆμος the commons, the people (see demos n.) + -κρατια -cracy comb. form. Compare Spanish democracia (a1550), Portuguese democracía (1675), Italian democrazia (a1525), and also Dutch democratie (1583), German Demokratie (1592 as democraty; 1536 as democratia with Latin inflectional ending), Swedish demokrati (1596; in early use often with Latin inflectional endings).Compare the following early examples, which show a parallel borrowing of the Latin or Greek word:1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. ii. sig. Avi^v An other publique weale was amonge the Atheniensis, where equalitie was of astate amonge the people... This maner of gouernaunce was called in greke Democratia, in latin Popularis potentia, in englisshe, the rule of the comminaltie.1545 E. Walshe Office & Duety Fighting for Countrey sig. B.vi^v Wherfore the said Demosthenes extolleth with high praise, the order taken for soche in the common wele of Democratia.1586 G. Whetstone Eng. Myrror 83 The Swizers..euer since haue bene gouerned, by that base gouerment, called Democratia, where mecanical people haue the only segniorie.In sense 3 after democrat n. 2; compare slightly later democratic adj. 2. 1. a. Government by the people; esp. a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity (or, esp. formerly, a subset of them meeting particular conditions) are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly; (more generally) a system of decision-making within an institution, organization, etc., in which all members have the right to take part or vote. In later use often more widely, with reference to the conditions characteristically obtaining under such a system: a form of society in which all citizens have equal rights, ignoring hereditary distinctions of class or rank, and the views of all are tolerated and respected; the principle of fair and equal treatment of everyone in a state, institution, organization, etc. Cf. majority rule n. at majority n.¹ Compounds 2, people n. 3a, 3c.In early use democracy is usually associated with republicanism, esp. classical republics (such as Athens and Rome), republican states of early modern Europe (such as Switzerland, Venice, and the Dutch Republic), and later the post-revolutionary republics in France and the United States. It is typically used in (explicit or implicit) contrast with terms denoting other systems of government derived from classical Greek and Latin political terminology, as aristocracy, monarchy, and oligarchy, and in these contexts often has negative connotations of disorder or anarchy (see, e.g., quots. a1500 and 1792, and compare the early figurative examples at sense 1c). From the 19th cent., the term increasingly develops positive connotations of egalitarianism, freedom, and the rule of law (see, e.g., quots. 1836, 2011), and in the 20th cent. comes to be used more typically in contrast with systems of government seen as lacking in or inimical to those qualities (such as dictatorship or anarchy), describing both republics and constitutional monarchies.liberal, participant, participatory, social democracy: see the first element. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > government by the people or their delegates > [noun] democracya1500 popularity1546 popular state1546 populacy1632 demarchy1643 liberal democracy1787 mass democracy1932 a1500 tr. A. Chartier Traité de l'Esperance (Rawl.) (1974) 56 (MED) Tyranny, Aristogracye, in which fewe men will reule by iustice, Oligracie, Tymotracie, and Democracie, which shulde gouerne the vniuersall people, ys now withowt ordre. 1576 A. Fleming tr. Peisistratus in Panoplie Epist. 198 Democracie, when the multitude have governement. 1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 582 Democratie [Fr. Democratie], where free and poore men being the greater number, are lordes of the estate. 1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 267 Were I in Switzerland I would maintaine Democrity. 1664 H. More Apol. in Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 514 Presbytery verges nearer toward Populacy or Democracy. 1703 J. Browne Surgeons Assistant i. iv. 38 We shall many times see the well governed State of Monarchy overcharged and surfeited with the poyson of Aristocracy, or Democracy. 1792 H. L. Piozzi Diary 20 Aug. in Thraliana (1942) II. 45 I am much of the same mind, if the Bulk of France really delights in Anarchical Democracy. 1796 Eng. Rev. Aug. 146 When men smart under despotic rule, they praise the justice and equality that are at least held forth as the principles of democracy. 1821 Ld. Byron Jrnl. 1 May in Lett. & Jrnls. (1978) VIII. 107 It is still more difficult to say which form of Government is the worst—all are so bad.—As for democracy it is the worst of the whole—for what is (in fact) democracy? an Aristocracy of Blackguards. 1836 T. P. Thompson Let. 22 Oct. in Lett. to Constituents 130 Democracy means the community's governing through its representatives for its own benefit. 1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. III. cvii. 549 I doubt whether democracy tends to discourage originality, subtlety, refinement, in thought and in expression. 1890 Pall Mall Gaz. 25 Nov. 3/1 ‘Progress of all through all, under the leading of the best and wisest’, was his [sc. Mazzini's] definition of democracy. 1937 W. Lippman Good Society ii. vii. 108 The rulers are continually responsible to popular opinion, and unless that opinion is free to change, and in changing to alter the policy of the state, there is no democracy. 1960 S. M. Osgood French Royalism under Third & Fourth Republics iii. 59 The Maurrassian doctrine is at once negative and positive: negative in its indictment of democracy; positive in its formulation of a redeeming monarchy. 1970 Guardian 11 July 11/6 The unanimous decision of a dockers' delegate conference—shop floor democracy at its most democratic. 1979 D. Murphy Wheels within Wheels iii. 47 Twice a week Mrs Mansfield called to drink tea with my mother and deplore the appalling inroads being made by democracy on good manners. 2001 B. Geddes World Food: Caribbean 14 The English have left behind a legacy of parliamentary democracy, afternoon teas and driving on the left hand side of the road. 2011 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 24 Mar. 21/3 In recent years, China's own activists have identified freedom, democracy, human rights, and human dignity as ‘universal values’. b. A state or polity with a democratic system of government; (more generally) any institution, organization, etc., which is run according to democratic principles. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > a or the state > [noun] > state ruled by the people democracy1539 commonwealth1542 state1565 free state1567 commonalty1604 republic1604 people-state1606 populacy1632 peopledom1657 commonality1680 rep1701 commonweal1733 pantarchy1870 1539 R. Taverner Garden of Wysdom sig. A.vii One requyred hym, that he wolde make and ordeyne in the citie a Democracie, that is to saye, a gouernaunce of the people. 1573 T. Cartwright Replye to Answere Whitgifte 35 In respecte that the people are not secluded, but haue their interest in churche matters, it is a Democratie, or a populare estate. 1586 T. Bowes tr. P. de la Primaudaye French Acad. I. 627 The States yeerely helde in the Prouinces, the Mairalties of townes, Shreeualties, Consulships, Capitolats, & Church-wardens, are as it were the forme of a Democraty. 1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 123 Democraties do not nourish game and pleasures like vnto Monarchies. 1610 Bp. J. Hall Common Apol. against Brownists ix. 23 Nothing..can be more disorderly, then the confusion of your Democracy, or popular state. 1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 266 Those antient, whose resistless eloquence Wielded at will that fierce Democratie . View more context for this quotation 1737 Gentleman's Mag. June 364/2 If the Ballance [of riches] be in one Man, his Empire is absolute Monarchy..If in the People in general, a Democracy. 1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 342 In the ancient democracies the public business was transacted in the assemblies of the people. 1804–6 S. Smith Elem. Sketches Moral Philos. (1850) xvi. 237 In the fierce and eventful democraties of Greece and Rome. 1881 B. Jowett tr. Thucydides Hist. Peloponnesian War I. 117 We are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. 1928 Pop. Mech. Jan. (Advertising section) 114/2 It [sc. the American Telephone and Telegraph Company] is a democracy, for the average holding is only 26 shares. 1958 Economist 8 Feb. 479/1 The Western dislike of time-wasting summitry is due..to a feeling that even an inconclusive get-together would fill the democracies with a false sense of security. 2008 Wired Sept. 44/2 Twitter is a democracy—if users don't like your tweets, they can vote with their PCs and drop your feed. 2009 T. Footman Noughties v. 77 In Western democracies, people were increasingly cynical about conventional political processes. c. figurative. Originally (depreciative): †a condition or state of affairs in which the proper order of things has been overturned; moral chaos (obsolete). Later: something resembling a democracy in organization, structure, principles, etc., esp. in lacking a pre-established hierarchy. ΚΠ 1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse 82 Tyrannizing as it were over the Democratie of base and vulgar actions. a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) ix. ii. 388 In wicked men there is a Democracy of wild Lusts and Passions. 1701 E. Ward Kentish Fable Lion & Foxes 3 It is difficult to imagine, that so small a Dose of Loyalty..should operate so Gripingly upon so strong a Body..unless that Body be infected with Democracy. 1848 H. T. Ryde tr. A. de Lamartine Hist. of Girondists III. xlix. 204 Their social constitution is but a republic of interest, and a democracy of manners. 1885 J. Martineau Types Ethical Theory I. 27 All these εἴδη..are not left side by side as a democracy of real being. 1971 J. Gardner Grendel v. 68 This jug is an absolute democracy of atoms. 2008 E. Lupton & J. C. Phillips Graphic Design 175/2 A gridded facade expresses a democracy of elements. 2. Those people who possess no hereditary or special rank or privileged status, collectively; the common or ordinary people; (in later use) spec. the whole body of citizens of a country, regarded as the source of political power; the people. ΘΚΠ society > society and the community > social class > the common people > [noun] folkc888 peoplea1325 frapec1330 commona1350 common peoplea1382 commonsa1382 commontya1387 communityc1400 meiniec1400 commonaltya1425 commonsa1500 vulgarsa1513 many1526 meinie1532 multitude1535 the many-headed beast (also monster)1537 number1542 ignobility1546 commonitya1550 popular1554 populace1572 popularya1578 vulgarity?1577 populacya1583 rout1589 the vulgar1590 plebs1591 mobile vulgusc1599 popularity1599 ignoble1603 the million1604 plebe1612 plebeity1614 the common filea1616 the herda1616 civils1644 commonality1649 democracy1656 menu1658 mobile1676 crowd1683 vulgusa1687 mob1691 Pimlico parliament?1774 citizenry1795 polloi1803 demos1831 many-headed1836 hoi polloi1837 the masses1837 citizenhood1843 John Q.1922 wimble-wamble1937 society > authority > office > appointment to office > choosing or fact of being chosen for office > election of representative body by vote > right to vote at elections > [noun] > one who has right to vote > whole body of electors people1646 electorate1879 democracy1906 1656 J. Stuteville & E. Denton Let. 12 Jan. in M. M. Verney Mem. Verney Family Commonwealth (1894) vi. 199 The gentry had need to close neerer together, and make a banke and bulwarke against that Sea of Democracy which is over running them. 1777 Earl of Abingdon Thoughts Let. E. Burke (ed. 6) Ded. p. xlvi Now the Democracy ruled, even without a Competitor. 1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. II. xii. 322 The power of the democracy in that age resided chiefly in the corporations. 1841 T. P. Thompson Exercises (1842) VI. 151 The portion of the people whose injury is the most manifest, have got or taken the title of the ‘democracy’. For nobody that has taken care of himself, is ever, in these days, of the democracy... The political life of the English democracy, may be said to date from the 21st of January 1841. 1868 J. S. Mill Eng. & Ireland 26 When the democracy of one country will join hands with the democracy of another. 1906 J. R. MacDonald in H. H. Tiltman James Ramsay MacDonald (1929) App. 283 The great democracy of the country..has been cajoled by Primrose dames; it has been bribed by candidates on both sides, who had more money than political intelligence. 1940 K. N. Llewellyn in B. Amidon Democracy's Challenge to Educ. iv. 224 Those folk whose education is the education of the democracy for democracy. 1997 M. A. Morrison Slavery & Amer. West i. 21 The chief threat to freedom, it again followed, was the Democracy, who ‘despairing of their own improvement..devote the energies which they should have employed for their own good to the injury of others.’ 3. U.S. Politics. Usually with capital initial. a. The principles and policies of the Democratic Party (see Democratic Party n. at democratic adj. and n. Compounds).Common before mid 20th cent. ΚΠ 1800 W. Cobbett Porcupine's Wks. (1801) XII. 110 With this I depart for my native land, where neither the moth of Democracy, nor the rust of Federalism doth corrupt. 1825 H. Clay Private Corr. 112 I am [alleged to be] a deserter from democracy. 1879 Rep. U.S. Senate Comm. Elections 1878 II. 413 Q. Do you know of any colored men being converted from Republicanism to Democracy?—A. I don't know of one, sir—not one. 1905 N. Davis Northerner 72 I look for the resurrection of Democracy and the rescinding of the fifteenth amendment. 2001 J. I. Hayes S. Carolina & New Deal ii. 19 Smith was a blend of the agrarianism of William Jennings Bryan, Progressivism of Woodrow Wilson, and traditional Southern Democracy. b. The Democratic Party and its members. Now chiefly historical. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > a party > [noun] partc1385 livery1477 faction1509 partialitya1533 side1566 party1682 set1748 democracy1803 machine party1858 column1906 MNLF1975 1803 Washington Federalist 4 Feb. 1/1 The Republicans in the United States will know how to give credence to the bold assertions of the democrats that this state is fast hastening to join the phalanx of democracy. 1868 G. Rose Great Country 354 That resolution adopted by the Maine Democracy in State Convention at Augusta. 1891 F. B. Williams in J. R. Lowell Writings VIII. 420 McClellan was one of the leaders of the Northern Democracy during the war, and the presidential nominee against Lincoln in 1864. 1939 Fortune Oct. 71/1 Southern Democracy, quite understandably, was bewildered by the complexities of this horde, and a little skeptical. 2010 R. J. Caliendo N.Y. City Mayors 263 The split of the New York Democracy opened the way for the election of a Whig mayor in 1847. 4. Advocacy of democratic principles or ideology; = democratism n. rare. ΘΚΠ society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > principles of or attachment to types of government > [noun] > democratism popularity1574 democratism1797 democracy1856 1856 D. M. Mulock John Halifax II. ix. 213 It seems..that democracy is rife in your neighbourhood. a1936 G. K. Chesterton Common Man (1950) i. 9 Their anti-democracy is as much stuffed with cant as their democracy. 1998 K. S. Bharathi Polit. Thought Ambedkar vi. 71 Intelligent devotion to human values is the essence of his democracy and humanism. Compounds C1. attributive. Advocating or promoting democracy or democratic reforms. ΚΠ 1978 Guardian 2 Dec. 1/2 Diplomats in Peking said the Chinese people had been told at special meetings..that the impromptu democracy movement would have to be curtailed. 1990 N.Y. Times 10 July a6/1 Fung Chi-wood, an Anglican priest and well-known democracy campaigner, was convicted of another offense. 1993 Wall Street Jrnl. 6 Oct. a12/3 Mr. Clinton himself accused his predecessor, George Bush, of coddling the government that brutally crushed democracy demonstrators. 2011 Atlantic Monthly June 54/2 Salem is an unusual figure, even among democracy activists in Cairo—he is frankly Americaphilic, in part because he was brought to the United States as a young man through a State Department visitors program. C2. democracy deficit n. = democratic deficit n. at democratic adj. and n. Compounds. ΚΠ 1978 Guardian 27 Sept. 13/4 At a recent meeting of the European Parliament's legal affairs committee, the EEC President, Roy Jenkins, was quizzed on ‘essential constitutional elements for reducing the democracy deficit at Community level’. 1985 Amer. Jrnl. Compar. Law 33 444 The lack of political participation of the electorate and societal groups concerned about the environment in the [European] Community decisionmaking process perpetuates a ‘democracy deficit’. 2006 E. F. Keyman in G. Delanty Europe & Asia beyond East & West xiv. 209 It is true that ‘democracy deficit’ constitutes one of the main characteristics of contemporary Turkish politics, and democracy in Turkey needs to be consolidated. Democracy Wall n. [after Chinese mínzhǔ qiáng (originally more fully Xīdān mínzhǔ qiáng , with reference to the district in which the wall was located: see quot. 1978) < mínzhǔ democracy + qiáng wall.] now historical a wall in Beijing, China, on which people placed posters, letters, poems, etc., criticizing the communist government and calling for the adoption of democratic reform; (hence) the democracy movement that arose from this in 1978; frequently attributive, esp. in Democracy Wall Movement.Posting messages on the wall was originally permitted by the Chinese authorities, but was eventually prohibited in December 1979. ΚΠ 1978 Washington Post 28 Nov. a18/3 They want the ‘Hsi Tan democracy wall’ institutionalized as an area of free speech. 1980 Time 10 Nov. 51 Wang belongs..to an unofficial group called the ‘Stars’, which grew out of last year's Democracy Wall movement. 1990 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 27 Sept. 30/4 Young activists posted independent views on the Democracy Wall in Beijing and were soon arrested..They did not know about Deng Xiaoping's persecution of the participants in the Democracy Wall Movement, or about the Fifth Modernization. 2010 New Yorker 24 May 58/3 He also participated in an incipient political movement called Democracy Wall, in which activists produced magazines and posters calling for reform. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.a1500
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