oligarchy
pronunciation
How to pronounce oligarchy in British English:
UK [ˈɒlɪgɑ:ki]
How to pronounce oligarchy in American English:
US [ˈɑləgɑrki]
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- Noun:
- a political system governed by a few people
Word Origin
- oligarchy (n.)
- 1570s, from Middle French oligarchie (14c.), from Greek oligarkhia "government by the few," from stem of oligos "few, small, little" (see oligo-) + arkhein "to rule" (see archon).
Antonym
Example
- 1. In the 1990s we encountered both anarchy and oligarchy .
- 2. The result could be a china that falls into a stagnant oligarchy like that of russia .
- 3. He fears the way soes are being privatised might create an oligarchy of a wealthy elite controlling the country 's resources , as in russia .
- 4. This sense can only grow in the face of a government that increasingly resembles an oligarchy , a plaything of party grandees .
- 5. The greeks knew that democracy is not likely to fall to the charms of totalitarianism , authoritarianism , or oligarchy ; it 's much more likely to fall to a corrupted version of itself .