government by the people or their elected representatives
2.
a political or social unit governed ultimately by all its members
3.
the practice or spirit of social equality
4.
a social condition of classlessness and equality
5.
the ordinary people, esp as a political force
Word origin
C16: from French démocratie, from Late Latin dēmocratia, from Greek dēmokratia government by the people; see demo-, -cracy
Examples of 'democracies' in a sentence
democracies
This moment every police force in your Western democracies is looking for you.
Forbes, Bryan THE ENDLESS GAME
Perhaps other countries are either democracies or dictatorships, but here the two things fight all the time.
Harvey, John COUP D'ETAT
Democracies must not lose sight of the atrocities and death camps.
Times, Sunday Times (2018)
Western democracies had no need to go along with this relay.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It turns out that democracies aren't that stable and neither are marriages.
Times, Sunday Times (2018)
In democracies, politicians are obliged to address the anxieties of the people.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But that's not what democracies do, is it?
Times, Sunday Times (2018)
Wouldn't you feel, maybe, more grateful to them than to the fence-sitting democracies?
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
But read back the list and see how few of those are democracies.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Except in areas of outright criminality, liberal democracies do not curb your speech.
Times, Sunday Times (2018)
All related terms of 'democracies'
democracy
Democracy is a system of government in which people choose their rulers by voting for them in elections .
democraty
government by the people or their elected representatives
pure democracy
a form of democracy in which the laws and policies are made directly by the citizens rather than by their representatives
liberal democracy
a democracy based on the recognition of individual rights and freedoms , in which decisions from direct or representative processes prevail in many policy areas
people's democracy
(in Communist ideology ) a country or form of government in transition from bourgeois democracy to socialism . In this stage there is more than one class, the largest being the proletariat , led by the Communist Party, which is therefore the dominant power
social democracy
Social democracy is a political system according to which social justice and equality can be achieved within the framework of a market economy .
industrial democracy
control of an organization by the people who work for it, esp by workers holding positions on its board of directors
parliamentary democracy
a system of government in which people elect representatives to a parliament to make laws, for example Canada and the UK
participatory democracy
individual participation by citizens in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, esp. directly rather than through elected representatives