(treated as sing. or pl) a usu hereditary nobility ranking socially above the ordinary or common people and below royalty
a form of government in which power is vested in a small privileged and usu hereditary noble class
a state with such a government
(treated as sing. or pl) the whole group of those believed to be superior in some sphere of life or activity; the elite
the intellectual aristocracy
[Old French aristocratie via late Latin from Greek aristokratia, from aristos best + -kratia: see -cracy]