democracy

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

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

Etymology

From Middle French democratie (French démocratie), from Medieval Latin dēmocratia, from Ancient Greek δημοκρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (dēmokrătĭ́ā). By surface analysis, demo- (“people”) + -cracy (“rule”).

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