monarchy
/ˈmɒnəki
/noun (plural monarchies) [mass noun]
1A form of government with a monarch at the head.You can see that the resulting difference in the constitution may be enormous: anywhere from social democracy to absolute monarchy....
- The Spartan constitution was mixed, containing elements of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy.
- Can people move directly from a clan-based system to democracy, skipping monarchy and feudalism?
Synonyms
kingship, sovereignty, autocracy, monocracy, absolutism, absolute power, despotism;
royalism, monarchism
1.1 [count noun] A state that has a monarch.Democratic republics can no more dispense with national idols than monarchies with public functionaries....
- When Prussia defeated France in 1870, it initiated the establishment of a new German Empire, a monarchy over monarchies.
- Because of increasingly complex feudal contracts, English kings ruled parts of France and conflict between the two monarchies was common.
Synonyms
kingdom, sovereign state, principality, empire;
realm
1.2 (the monarchy) The monarch and royal family of a country: the monarchy is the focus of loyalty and service...
- Do you think that's where the royal family and the monarchy will go?
- The Crown and the Royal Family, the monarchy, stand for something to be proud of in this world today.
- Of more immediate concern to the queen was probably the role of the monarchy itself and the vicissitudes of the royal family.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French monarchie, via late Latin from Greek monarkhia 'the rule of one'.