Meaning & use
anarchy government
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Meanings
nouncountable
A government that has lost control of its territory, so that law and order have broken down.
Grammar: Used as a countable noun phrase: you can say 'an anarchy government' or 'anarchy governments'.
Patterns
- an anarchy government
- a country under an anarchy government
- the collapse into an anarchy government
After the coup, the country was run by what observers called an anarchy government.
An anarchy government cannot collect taxes or protect its citizens.
The report described an anarchy government that controlled only the capital.
nouncountable
A government whose authority has broken down completely, leaving no effective ruler or law.
Grammar: Often used after 'a' or 'the' when describing a failed state.
Patterns
- become an anarchy government
- a failed state with an anarchy government
Within months the regime had become an anarchy government, with rival militias in every province.
Historians debate whether the last years of the empire were ruled by an anarchy government or by no one at all.
noununcountable
Government by no one; a political condition in which there is no recognized authority.
Grammar: Here 'anarchy' is uncountable and 'government' is the thing that is absent, as in 'no government'.
Patterns
- a state of anarchy government
- descend into anarchy government
The pamphlet called for anarchy government, arguing that all rulers are illegitimate.
Some thinkers feared that anarchy government would mean constant war between communities.
Word forms
| plural | anarchy governments |
|---|
Common combinations
- collapse into anarchy government
- The failed state collapsed into anarchy government after the elections were canceled.
- a state of anarchy government
- The region was in a state of anarchy government for nearly a decade.
- an anarchy government controls nothing
- An anarchy government controls nothing beyond the few streets around its offices.
- run by an anarchy government
- The province was run by an anarchy government of local warlords.
Synonyms and how they differ
- failed state
- A much more common term for a country whose government has lost control; it names the country, not the government itself.
- lawlessness
- Focuses on the absence of law rather than on the governing body; it is uncountable and cannot take 'a'.
- chaos
- A general word for disorder; it does not refer specifically to a government or political authority.
Opposites
Word family
- anarchic adjective
- Describing a situation or group that has no effective authority or rules.
- anarchist noun
- A person who believes that organized government should be abolished.
- anarchism noun
- The political belief that government should be abolished.
- anarchy noun
- The base noun meaning a state of no government or no law and order.
Commonly confused: anarchy government or monarchy? anarchy government or anarchism?
anarchy government vs monarchy
A monarchy is rule by a king or queen; anarchy is the absence of any effective rule. They sound similar but mean almost the opposite.
anarchy government vs anarchism
Anarchism is a political theory; anarchy is the actual condition of disorder or absence of government.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'anarchy government' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'An anarchy government' describes a government that has lost control, so the coup example fits. Option 1 is wrong because a king is a monarch, the opposite of anarchy. Option 2 confuses it with a field of study. Option 3 is wrong because a government in anarchy cannot pass and enforce laws effectively.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “anarchy government”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.