A republic is a country where power is held by the people or the representatives that they elect.Republics have presidents who are elected, rather than kings or queens.
In 1918, Austria became a republic.
...the Baltic republics.
...the Republic of Ireland. [+ of]
2. See also banana republic
republic in British English
(rɪˈpʌblɪk)
noun
1.
a form of government in which the people or their elected representatives possess the supreme power
2.
a political or national unit possessing such a form of government
3.
a constitutional form in which the head of state is an elected or nominated president
4.
any community or group that resembles a political republic in that its members or elements exhibit a general equality, shared interests, etc
the republic of letters
Word origin
C17: from French république, from Latin rēspublica literally: the public thing, from rēs thing + publicapublic
republic in American English
(rɪˈpʌblɪk)
noun
1.
a.
a state or nation in which the supreme power rests in all the citizens entitled to vote (the electorate) and is exercised by representatives elected, directly or indirectly, by them and responsible to them
b.
the form of government of such a state or nation
c.
a specified republican regime of a nation
the Fifth Republic of France
2.
any group whose members are regarded as having a certain equality or common aims, pursuits, etc.
the republic of letters
3.
a state or nation with a president as its titular head
4.
any of the constituent territorial and political units of the U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia, etc.
Word origin
MFr république < L respublica < res, thing, affair, interest (see real1) + publica, fem. of publicus, public
Examples of 'republic' in a sentence
republic
Moves are afoot to give rugby official status as the national sport of the former Soviet republic.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Some of them today are rather large republics.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He favored a strong national government over a republic in which power was invested locally.
Christianity Today (2000)
The time had come for the colonists to form an independent republic.
Divine, Robert A. (editor) & Breen, T. H & Frederickson, George M & Williams, R. Hal America Past and Present (1995)
Investment banks are busy wooing the republic's government to try to win deals.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
As a former president of the republic, he could not.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
If the people wanted a republic now, they should not feel constrained by atavistic affection for monarchy.
Roper, Jon Democracy and its Critics - Anglo-American democratic thought in the nineteenth century (1989)
More than did any other form of government, a republic demanded an exceptionally high degree of public morality.
Divine, Robert A. (editor) & Breen, T. H & Frederickson, George M & Williams, R. Hal America Past and Present (1995)
Officers in the former Soviet republic are scouring his old haunts in the capital in case he has returned.
The Sun (2014)
In ten stormy years France had passed from autocracy to a constitutional monarchy to a constitutional republic and now to military despotism.
Deborah Cadbury THE LOST KING OF FRANCE: Revolution, Revenge and the Search for Louis XVII (2002)
Not one of them could claim as much for the benefits of government as he did for the newly born American republic.
Brian Thompson DEVASTATING EDEN: The Search for Utopia in America (2004)
This documentary on the problems facing the president of the republic as he comes up for re-election was timely and surprisingly interesting.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
They want to keep the economy moving to maintain the support of the republic's 1.4bn people.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
It's a people 's republic rapidly losing its people.
The Sun (2014)
A republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting things.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
They had promised to bring jobs and prosperity to a backward region of this Central American republic.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
It has an elected president of the republic, whose tenure is limited to two consecutive four-year terms.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
But the charm of the book lies above all in its chronicle of two lively young men's encounter with the young American republic.
The Times Literary Supplement (2011)
I was six when I shouted out in the playground that my father was president of the republic.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
In other languages
republic
British English: republic /rɪˈpʌblɪk/ NOUN
A republic is a country that has a president or whose system of government is based on the idea that every citizen has equal status.
...an independent republic.
American English: republic
Arabic: جُمْهورِيَّة
Brazilian Portuguese: república
Chinese: 共和国
Croatian: republika
Czech: republika
Danish: republik
Dutch: republiek
European Spanish: república
Finnish: tasavalta
French: république
German: Republik
Greek: δημοκρατία
Italian: repubblica
Japanese: 共和政体
Korean: 공화국
Norwegian: republikk
Polish: republika
European Portuguese: república
Romanian: republică
Russian: республика
Latin American Spanish: república
Swedish: republik
Thai: สาธารณรัฐ
Turkish: cumhuriyet
Ukrainian: республіка
Vietnamese: nền cộng hòa
All related terms of 'republic'
Komi Republic
a constituent republic of NW Russia: annexed by the princes of Moscow in the 14th century. Capital: Syktyvkar . Pop: 1 019 000 (2002). Area: 415 900 sq km (160 540 sq miles)
Tuva Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia : mountainous . Capital: Kizyl. Pop: 305 500 (2002). Area: 170 500 sq km (65 800 sq miles)
Adygei Republic
a constituent republic of SW Russia , bordering on the Caucasus Mountains: chiefly agricultural but with some mineral resources . Capital: Maikop . Pop: 447 000 (2002). Area: 7600 sq km (2934 sq miles)
Altai Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia : mountainous , rising over 4350 m (14 500 ft) in the Altai Mountains of the south. Capital: Gorno-Altaisk. Pop: 202 900 (2002). Area: 92 600 sq km (35 740 sq miles)
banana republic
Small, poor countries that are politically unstable are sometimes referred to as banana republics .
Buryat Republic
a constituent republic of SE central Russia, on Lake Baikal : mountainous , with forests covering over half the total area. Capital: Ulan-Ude . Pop: 981 000 (2002). Area: 351 300 sq km (135 608 sq miles)
Czech Republic
a country in central Europe; formed part of Czechoslovakia until 1993; mostly wooded, with lowlands surrounding the River Morava , rising to the Bohemian plateau in the W and to highlands in the N; joined the EU in 2004. Language: Czech . Religion : Christian majority . Currency : koruna . Capital Prague . Pop: 10 618 303 (2017 est). Area: 78 864 sq km (30 450 sq miles)
Fifth Republic
the French republic established in 1958 as the successor to the Fourth Republic. Its constitution is characterized by the strong position of the president
First Republic
the republic in France, which lasted from the abolition of the monarchy in 1792 until Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself emperor in 1804
Fourth Republic
the fourth period of republican government in France or the republic itself (1945–58)
Ingush Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia : part of the Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Republic from 1936 until 1992. Capital: Magas (formerly at Nazran). Pop: 468 900 (2002). Area: 3600 sq km (1390 sq miles)
Irish Republic
an island off NW Europe: separated from Great Britain by the North Channel , the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel; contains large areas of peat bog , with mountains that rise over 900 m (3000 ft) in the southwest and several large lakes . It was conquered by England in the 16th and early 17th centuries and ruled as a dependency until 1801, when it was united with Great Britain until its division in 1921 into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland
Kalmyk Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia , on the Caspian Sea: became subject to Russia in 1646. Capital: Elista. Pop: 292 400 (2002). Area: 76 100 sq km (29 382 sq miles)
Khmer Republic
a country in SE Asia: became part of French Indochina in 1887; achieved self-government in 1949 and independence in 1953; civil war (1970–74) ended in victory for the Khmer Rouge , who renamed the country Kampuchea (1975) and carried out extreme-radical political and economic reforms resulting in a considerable reduction of the population ; Vietnamese forces ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979 and set up a pro-Vietnamese government who reverted (1981) to the name Cambodia ; after Vietnamese withdrawal in 1989 a peace settlement with exiled factions was followed in 1993 by the adoption of a democratic monarchist constitution restoring Prince Sihanouk to the throne . The country contains the central plains of the Mekong River and the Cardamom Mountains in the SW. Official language: Khmer. Religion: Buddhist majority . Currency: riel . Capital: Phnom Penh. Pop: 16 005 373 (2017 est). Area: 181 000 sq km (69 895 sq miles)
Sakha Republic
an administrative division in E Russia, in NE Siberia on the Arctic Ocean : the coldest inhabited region of the world; it has rich mineral resources . Capital: Yakutsk . Pop: 948 100 (2002). Area: 3 103 200 sq km (1 197 760 sq miles)
Second Republic
the republican government of France from the deposition of Louis Philippe (1848) until the Second Empire (1852)
Slovak Republic
→ the Slovak Republic
Tatar Republic
a constituent republic of W Russia, around the confluence of the Volga and Kama Rivers . Capital: Kazan . Pop: 3 779 800 (2002). Area: 68 000 sq km (26 250 sq miles)
Third Republic
the governmental system established after the fall of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War and lasting until the German occupation of 1940
Udmurt Republic
a constituent republic of W central Russia , in the basin of the middle Kama . Capital: Izhevsk . Pop: 1 570 500 (2002). Area: 42 100 sq km (16 250 sq miles)
Weimar Republic
the German republic that existed from 1919 to Hitler's accession to power in 1933
Yakut Republic
an administrative division in E Russia, in NE Siberia on the Arctic Ocean : the coldest inhabited region of the world; it has rich mineral resources . Capital: Yakutsk . Pop: 948 100 (2002). Area: 3 103 200 sq km (1 197 760 sq miles)
Yemen Republic
a republic in SW Arabia , on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden ; formed in 1990 from the union of North Yemen and South Yemen; civil war since 2014 when Houthi rebels overran the capital; consists of arid coastal lowlands , rising to fertile upland valleys and mountains in the west and to the Hadhramaut plateau in the SE; the north and east contains part of the Great Sandy Desert . Official language: Arabic . Official religion: Muslim . Currency: riyal . Capital: San'a. Pop: 28 250 420 (2017 est). Area (including territory claimed by Yemen along the undemarcated eastern border with Saudi Arabia): 472 099 sq km (182 278 sq miles)
Bashkir Republic
a constituent republic of E central Russia , in the S Urals: established as the first Soviet autonomous republic in 1919; rich mineral resources . Capital: Ufa . Pop: 4 012 900 (2002). Area: 143 600 sq km (55 430 sq miles)
Chechen Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia , on the N slopes of the Caucasus Mountains: major oil and natural gas resources ; formed an Autonomous Republic with Ingushetia from 1936 until 1944 and from 1957 until 1991; declared independence from Ingushetia in 1992; fighting between Chechen separatists and Russian forces (1994–96) led to de facto independence: reoccupied by Russia in 1999–2000. Capital: Grozny . Pop: 1 100 300 (2002). Area: 15 700 sq km (6010 sq miles)
Chuvash Republic
a constituent republic of W central Russia, in the middle Volga valley : generally low-lying with undulating plains and large areas of forest. Capital: Cheboksary . Pop: 1 313 900 (2002). Area: 18 300 sq km (7064 sq miles)
Dagestan Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia, on the Caspian Sea: annexed from Persia in 1813; rich mineral resources . Capital: Makhachkala . Pop: 2 584 200 (2002). Area: 50 278 sq km (19 416 sq miles)
Dominican Republic
a republic in the Caribbean , occupying the eastern half of the island of Hispaniola : colonized by the Spanish after its discovery by Columbus in 1492; gained independence from Spain in 1821. It is generally mountainous , dominated by the Cordillera Central, which rises over 3000 m (10 000 ft), with fertile lowlands . Language: Spanish. Religion: Roman Catholic majority . Currency: peso . Capital: Santo Domingo . Pop: 10 766 998 (2017 est). Area: 48 441 sq km (18 703 sq miles)
Karelian Republic
a constituent republic of NW Russia between the White Sea and Lakes Onega and Ladoga . Capital: Petrozavodsk . Pop: 716 700 (2002). Area: 172 400 sq km (66 560 sq miles)
Khakass Republic
a constituent republic of S central Russia , formerly in Krasnoyarsk Territory : formed in 1930. Capital: Abakan . Pop: 546 100 (2002). Area: 61 900 sq km (23 855 sq miles)
Malagasy Republic
→ Madagascar (the country )
Mordovian Republic
a constituent republic of W central Russia , in the middle Volga basin . Capital: Saransk . Pop: 888 700 (2002). Area: 26 200 sq km (10 110 sq miles)
Byelorussian Republic
a republic in E Europe; populated by Slavic tribes from the 6th century; part of the Kievan Rus’ from 9th to 13th century; then part of the medieval Lithuanian and Polish empires before being acquired by Russia; a Soviet republic (1919–91); in 1997 formed a close political and economic union with Russia: mainly low-lying and forested . Official Languages: Belarussian and Russian . Religion: believers are mostly Orthodox Christian. Currency: rouble . Capital: Minsk . Pop: 9 468 338 (2017 est). Area: 207 600 sq km (80 134 sq miles)
Lithuanian Republic
a republic in NE Europe, on the Baltic Sea: a grand duchy in medieval times; united with Poland in 1569; occupied by Russia in 1795 and by Germany during World War I; independent Lithuania formed in 1918, but occupied by Soviet troops in 1919 and then by Poland; became a Soviet republic in 1940; unilaterally declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990; recognized as independent in 1991; joined the EU in 2004. Official language: Lithuanian . Religion : Roman Catholic majority . Currency : euro . Capital: Vilnius . Pop: 2 890 297 (2017 est). Area: 65 200 sq km (25 174 sq miles)
Mari El Republic
a constituent republic of W central Russia , in the middle Volga basin . Capital: Yoshkar-Ola . Pop: 728 000 (2002). Area: 23 200 sq km (8955 sq miles)
Mordvinian Republic
a constituent republic of W central Russia , in the middle Volga basin . Capital: Saransk . Pop: 888 700 (2002). Area: 26 200 sq km (10 110 sq miles)
Republic of China
a republic ( recognized as independent by only a small number of nations ) in E Asia occupying the island of Taiwan , 13 nearby islands, and 64 islands of the Penghu (Pescadores) group. Language: Mandarin Chinese . Religion: significant Buddhist and Taoist minorities . Currency: New Taiwan dollar . Capital: Taipei . Pop: 22 610 000 (2003 est). Area: 35 981 sq km (13 892 sq miles)
Republic of Palau
a republic comprising a group of islands in the W Pacific , in the W Caroline Islands; administratively part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 1947–87; entered into an agreement of free association with the US (1980); became fully independent in 1994. Official languages: Palauan and English; Sonsorolese and Tobian are also spoken. Religion : Christian majority . Currency : US dollar . Capital: Ngerulmud on Babelthuap (functions moved from Koror in 2006). Pop: 21 729 (2017 est). Area: 476 sq km (184 sq miles)
Gorno-Altai Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia : mountainous , rising over 4350 m (14 500 ft) in the Altai Mountains of the south. Capital: Gorno-Altaisk. Pop: 202 900 (2002). Area: 92 600 sq km (35 740 sq miles)
Republic of Ireland
a republic in NW Europe occupying most of Ireland : established as the Irish Free State (a British dominion ) in 1921 and declared a republic in 1949; joined the European Community (now the European Union ) in 1973. Official languages: Irish ( Gaelic ) and English. Religion : Roman Catholic majority . Currency : euro . Capital: Dublin . Pop: 4 761 657 (2017 est). Area: 70 285 sq km (27 137 sq miles)
republic of letters
the collective body of literary people
Republic of Maldives
a republic occupying an archipelago of 1087 coral islands in the Indian Ocean , southwest of Sri Lanka: came under British protection in 1887; became independent in 1965 and a republic in 1968; member of the Commonwealth (1982–2016). The economy and infrastructure were severely damaged in the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004. Official language: Divehi. Official religion: ( Sunni ) Muslim . Currency: rufiyaa. Capital: Malé. Pop: 436 330 (2017 est). Area: 298 sq km (115 sq miles)
Republic of Vanuatu
a republic comprising a group of islands in the W Pacific , W of Fiji : a condominium under Anglo-French joint rule from 1906; attained partial autonomy in 1978 and full independence in 1980 as a member of the Commonwealth . Its economy is based chiefly on copra . Official languages: Bislama; French; English. Religion : Christian majority . Currency : vatu . Capital: Port Vila (on Efate). Pop: 276 244 (2017 est). Area: about 14 760 sq km (5700 sq miles)
Republic of Vietnam
the name (from 1955–75) for South Vietnam , as an independent republic , following the division of the country in 1954 into North Vietnam and South Vietnam
the Slovak Republic
a country in central Europe: part of Hungary from the 11th century until 1918, when it united with Bohemia and Moravia to form Czechoslovakia ; it became independent in 1993 and joined the EU in 2004. Official language: Slovak . Religion : Roman Catholic majority . Currency : euro . Capital: Bratislava . Pop: 5 447 662 (2017 est). Area: 49 036 sq km (18 940 sq miles)
United Arab Republic
Egypt & Syria , united as a single nation (1958-61)
Yemen Arab Republic
a former republic in SW Arabia , on the Red Sea; now part of Yemen ; declared a republic in 1962; united with South Yemen in 1990
Central African Republic
a landlocked country of central Africa: joined with Chad as a territory of French Equatorial Africa in 1910; became an independent republic in 1960; a parliamentary monarchy (1976–79); consists of a huge plateau , mostly savanna , with dense forests in the south; drained chiefly by the Shari and Ubangi Rivers . Official languages: French and Sango . Religion : Christian and animist. Currency : franc . Capital: Bangui . Pop: 4 659 080 (2017 est). Area: 622 577 sq km (240 376 sq miles)
North Ossetian Republic
a constituent republic of S Russia , on the N slopes of the central Caucasus Mountains. Capital: Vladikavkaz . Pop: 709 900 (2002). Area: about 8000 sq km (3088 sq miles)
Republic of the Congo
a republic in W Central Africa: formerly the French colony of Middle Congo , part of French Equatorial Africa, it became independent in 1960; consists mostly of equatorial forest , with savanna and extensive swamps ; drained chiefly by the Rivers Congo and Ubangi . Official language: French. Religion : Christian majority . Currency : franc . Capital: Brazzaville . Pop: 5 260 750 (2017 est). Area: 342 000 sq km (132 018 sq miles)
Chinese translation of 'republic'
republic
(rɪˈpʌblɪk)
n(c)
共和国(國) (gònghéguó) (个(個), gè)
All related terms of 'republic'
Czech Republic
▶ the Czech Republic 捷克共和国(國) Jiékè Gònghéguó
Dominican Republic
▶ the Dominican Republic 多米尼加共和国(國) Duōmǐníjiā Gònghéguó
Republic of Guinea
几(幾)内(內)亚(亞) Jǐnèiyà
the Czech Republic
捷克共和国(國) Jiékè Gònghéguó
the Dominican Republic
多米尼加共和国(國) Duōmǐníjiā Gònghéguó
the Slovak Republic
斯洛伐克共和国(國) Sīluòfákè Gònghéguó
the Republic of Ireland
爱(愛)尔(爾)兰(蘭)共和国(國) Ài'ěrlán Gònghéguó
Philippines
▶ the Philippines ( also: Republic of the Philippines ) 菲律宾(賓) Fēilǜbīn