ARISTOCRACY • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Aristocracy

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/ˌɛrəstˈɑkrəsi/ Listen

noun

Aristocracy n. (pl. aristocracies)

Government by the best citizens.

A ruling body composed of the best citizens. (Obs.) "In the Senate Right not our quest in this, I will protest them To all the world, no aristocracy."

A form a government, in which the supreme power is vested in the principal persons of a state, or in a privileged order; an oligarchy. "The aristocracy of Venice hath admitted so many abuses, trough the degeneracy of the nobles, that the period of its duration seems approach."

The nobles or chief persons in a state; a privileged class or patrician order; (in a popular use) those who are regarded as superior to the rest of the community, as in rank, fortune, or intellect.

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Etymology of 'Aristocracy'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Aristocracy" Quotes from Famous Books

... by properly judged competition or examination with a free chance to all, are, in principle, selective yet democratic in the best sense, that of "equality of opportunity." When the governing few are not the best fitted for the work, a so-called aristocracy is of course not an aristocracy (government by the best) at all, but merely an oligarchy. When officers chosen by vote are not well fitted then such a government is not ...

— Applied Eugenics • Paul Popenoe and Roswell Hill Johnson

... from one of the curiously embroidered silken covers appertaining to those glorious escutcheons which, in England and elsewhere, are customarily hung up, in some conspicuous place, upon the dwellings of departed aristocracy. ...

— The Works of Edgar Allan Poe - Volume 3 (of 5) of the Raven Edition • Edgar Allan Poe

... between civilized and barbaric nations, the real basis of civilization itself, and the value to the world of the Graeco-Roman civilization. I have ranked feudalism under the head of barbarism, rejected every species of political aristocracy, and represented the English constitution as essentially antagonistic to the American, not as its type. I have accepted universal suffrage in principle, and defended American democracy, which I define to ...

— The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destiny • A. O. Brownson

... warlike Egyptians were divided into two classes, earth-tillers and artisans. Among earth-tillers there must have been owners of small bits of laud, but generally earth-tillers were tenants on lands belonging to the pharaohs, the priests, and the aristocracy. The artisans, the people who made clothing, furniture, vessels, and tools, were independent; those who worked at great edifices formed, ...

— The Pharaoh and the Priest - An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt • Boleslaw Prus

... had no sense of deference to what is known as good blood, Bucky had too much horse sense to resent the careless, half-indifferent greeting which these two young sprouts of aristocracy bestowed on the rest of the party. He understood that it was the natural product of their education and of ...

— Bucky O'Connor • William MacLeod Raine

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