Meaning & use
democracy
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Meanings
noununcountable
A way of governing in which the people hold power, usually by choosing leaders in elections.
Grammar: Without an article it names the system: democracy depends on free elections.
Patterns
- democracy in something
- a threat to democracy
Free elections are essential to democracy.
Many students protested in the name of democracy.
The country moved from military rule to democracy in the 1990s.
nouncountable
A country or state that is governed in this way.
Grammar: With an or in the plural it means a particular country: a stable democracy.
Patterns
- a democracy
Switzerland is one of the oldest democracies in Europe.
India is the world's largest democracy by population.
A young democracy needs strong courts.
noununcountable
A fair way of running a group, in which every member has an equal say in decisions.
Grammar: Applies to clubs, schools and workplaces, not just governments.
Patterns
- democracy in the workplace
The club practices democracy: every member gets one vote.
She wanted more democracy in how the school was run.
Workplace democracy gives staff a voice in major changes.
Word forms
| plural | democracies |
|---|
Common combinations
- representative democracy
- Most modern countries use a representative democracy.
- direct democracy
- Some Swiss towns practice direct democracy.
- parliamentary democracy
- Canada is a parliamentary democracy.
- defend democracy
- Citizens must defend democracy against corruption.
- restore democracy
- The coup leaders promised to restore democracy.
- threat to democracy
- Press censorship is a threat to democracy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- self-government
- Self-government stresses that a people rules itself, while democracy specifically involves voting and equal participation.
- popular rule
- Popular rule is a more formal, abstract phrase for rule by the people, and democracy is the ordinary term.
- republic
- A republic is a state without a monarch, whereas a democracy is defined by how power is held, so the two can overlap but are not the same.
Opposites
Word family
- democrat noun
- a person who believes in democracy
- democratic adjective
- relating to or run by democracy
- democratically adverb
- in a democratic way, as in a democratically elected leader
- democratize verb
- to make something democratic
- democratization noun
- the process of becoming democratic
Commonly confused: democracy or democratic?
democracy vs democratic
Democratic is the adjective, as in a democratic vote. With a capital D it can mean a political party, such as the Democratic Party, which is not the same as democracy itself.
Practice
The opposite of a democracy, where one person holds all the power, is a ____.
Choose one answer.
A dictatorship concentrates power in one ruler. A republic, federation and coalition can all be democratic arrangements, so they are not opposites.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “democracy”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.