Definitions for: Aristocracy


[n] the most powerful members of a society
[n] a privileged class holding hereditary titles



Webster (1913) Definition: Ar`is*toc"ra*cy, n.; pl. Aristocracies. [Gr. ?;
? best + ? to be strong, to rule, ? strength; ? is perh. from
the same root as E. arm, and orig. meant fitting: cf. F.
aristocratie. See Arm, and Create, which is related to
Gr. ?.]
1. Government by the best citizens.

2. 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. --B.
Jonson.

3. 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. --Swift.

4. 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.

Synonyms: gentry, nobility

See Also: aristocrat, baronage, blue blood, elite, Ferdinand and Isabella, knighthood, landed gentry, lords temporal, noblesse, patrician, peerage, samurai, second estate, squirearchy, upper class, upper crust, William and Mary

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