Meaning & use
a monarchy
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Meanings
phrasecountable
A country or system in which a king or queen rules, usually with the position passing down through one family.
Grammar: Countable phrase: say 'a monarchy' for one example, 'monarchies' for more than one, and 'the monarchy' for the institution as a whole.
Patterns
- a constitutional monarchy
- an absolute monarchy
- become a monarchy
- the monarchy in a country
Sweden is a monarchy, but the king has no real political power.
After the revolution the country stopped being a monarchy and became a republic.
She wrote a school report about life in a monarchy.
phrasesingular
The royal family and the whole system of royal rule, seen as one institution.
Grammar: Usually written 'the monarchy' with 'the'; it refers to the institution, not to one country.
Patterns
- support the monarchy
- abolish the monarchy
- the future of the monarchy
Public support for the monarchy has fallen in recent years.
Some politicians want to abolish the monarchy altogether.
The debate about the monarchy filled the newspapers for weeks.
Word forms
| plural | monarchies |
|---|
Common combinations
- a constitutional monarchy
- Britain is a constitutional monarchy, so Parliament makes the laws.
- an absolute monarchy
- In an absolute monarchy the ruler's word is the law.
- abolish the monarchy
- The party promised to abolish the monarchy if it won.
- restore the monarchy
- Crowds celebrated when the monarchy was restored.
- the monarchy's future
- Talk shows spent the evening discussing the monarchy's future.
Synonyms and how they differ
- kingdom
- A kingdom is the country or territory ruled by a king; a monarchy can also mean the system of rule itself.
- reign
- A reign is the period during which one ruler is in power, not the political system.
- royalty
- Royalty means royal people as a group; it does not include the laws and institutions that a monarchy covers.
Opposites
Word family
- monarch noun
- A king, queen, or other single ruler of a state.
- monarchical adjective
- Relating to a king or queen or to rule by one person.
- monarchist noun
- A person who supports having a monarchy.
- monarchism noun
- The belief that a country should be ruled by a monarch.
Commonly confused: a monarchy or monastery?
a monarchy vs monastery
A monastery is a building where monks live. It sounds similar to 'monarchy' but has nothing to do with kings.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'a monarchy' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'A monarchy' needs the article 'a' when you name one such country for the first time. Option 1 drops the article, option 2 uses 'the' wrongly for a first mention, and option 3 uses the plural with a singular subject.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a monarchy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.