aristocracy Hear it!

aristocracy Definition

ar·is·toc·racy (ar′i stä′krə sē, er′-)

noun pl. -·cies

  1. Historical government by the best citizens
  2. government by a privileged minority or upper class, usually of inherited wealth and social position
  3. a country with this form of government; oligarchy
  4. a privileged ruling class; nobility
  5. those considered the best in some way an aristocracy of scientists
  6. aristocratic quality or spirit

Etymology: L aristocratia < Gr aristokratia < aristos, best + -kratia, rule < kratos, power, rule: see hard

aristocracy Synonyms

aristocracy

n.

nobility, privileged class, peerage, patriciate, House of Lords, superior group, ruling class, noblemen, nobles, the elite, gentry, high society, upper class(es), persons of rank, patricians, optimates, gentility, fashionable world, class of hereditary nobility, body of nobles, royalty, beau monde, haut monde, pur sang, noblesse (all French), the Quality*, the upper ten*, high livers*, the four hundred*, the upper crust*, the social register*, the jet set*, the blue book crowd*; see also society 3.

Antonyms people*, working class, peasantry.

aristocracy Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • land: He did much to break the power of the landed aristocracy over the country.
  • represent: Uthman, from the Umayya clan, represented the tribal aristocracy of Mecca, and his victory annoyed a loyalist old guard.
  • have: They concede that they have always had an aristocracy of blood.
  • govern: But these constitutive measures were not enough; the governing aristocracy for the time being was also directly assailed.
  • establish: The Dissolution was a bonanza both for the established aristocracy and Tudor ' new men ' hungry for lands.

Converse of subject

  • dominate: The identifiable hierarchy of settlement reflects a perceived increase in the stratification of society dominated by a warrior aristocracy.

Adjective modifier

  • feudal: A slump in grain prices combined with big increases in the price of luxury items put pressure on the lifestyle of the feudal aristocracy.
  • landowning: The landowning aristocracy are the ruling class under feudalism.
  • hereditary: Indeed, an appendix reveals these philosophers to be the " hereditary aristocracy " of the subject.
  • minor: Middle ranks: professional; minor aristocracy; 14 Revd.
  • Russian: Along with the Russian aristocracy, the Borzoi also has historical links with the Royal family in England.
  • British: John Montagu background was that of the British aristocracy he was the the Earl of Sandwich.

Noun used with modifier

  • labor: Are we not dealing perhaps with the labor aristocracy?
  • warrior: The identifiable hierarchy of settlement reflects a perceived increase in the stratification of society dominated by a warrior aristocracy.
  • labor: The South African Labor Party had been entirely the preserve of a white labor aristocracy.
  • ruling: In states where the slave system prevails, the masters directly or indirectly secure all political power and constitute a ruling aristocracy.
  • land-owning: Slowly, the old land-owning aristocracy was beginning to lose ground to the abstract forces of money.

Preposition: of

  • labor: The distillery is one of the largest employers in the town and the distilling staff are the aristocracy of local labor.
aristocracy Quotes

An aristocracy in a republic is like a chicken whose head has been cut off: it may run about in a lively way, but in fact it is dead.

—Mitford, Nancy Freeman

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.

—Chesterton, G(ilbert) K(eith)

Aristocracy of the Moneybag.

—Carlyle,Thomas

The order of nobility is of great use, too, not only in what it creates, but in what it prevents. It prevents the rule of wealthöthe religion of gold. This is the obvious and natural idol of the Anglo-Saxon† From this our aristocracy preserves us.

—Bagehot,Walter

Thus ourdemocracy was, froman early period, themost aristocratic, and our aristocracy the most democratic in the world.

—1st Baron

A Bunyip Aristocracy.

—Deniehy, Daniel Henry

The Chinese are the aristocracy of the East.

—Maugham,W(illiam) Somerset

The Pedigree of Honey Does not concern the Beeö A Clover, any time, to him, Is Aristocracyö

—Dickinson, Emily Elizabeth

They that are discontented under monarchy call it tyranny; and they that are displeased with aristocracy call it oligarchy; so also, they which find themselves grieved under a democracy call it anarchy, which signifies the want of government; and yet I think no man believes that want of government is any new kind of government.

—Hobbes,Thomas

Consider Ireland. Thus you have a starving population, an absentee aristocracy, and an alien Churchöand in addition, the weakest executive in the world. That is the Irish Question.

—Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

Entre nosotros el dinero ha hecho desaparecer ma¤  s preocupaciones de familia que en las viejas sociedades europeas. En e¤  stas hay lo que llaman aristocracia de dinero, que jama¤  s alcanza con su poder†a hacer olvidar enteramente la oscuridad de la cuna, al paso que en Chile†todo va cediendo su puesto a la riqueza. Among us, money has dissolved more worries than among ancient European societies. The latter have what they call the moneyed aristocracy, which, despite all its power, never gets to forget its humble origins; on the other hand, in Chile everything yields to wealth.

—Blest Gana, Alberto

[The] English proletariat is becoming more and more bourgeois, so that this most bourgeois of all nations is apparently aiming ultimatelyat the possession of a bourgeoisaristocracyand a bourgeoisproletariat as well as a bourgeoisie. For a nation which exploits the whole world this is of course to a certain extent justifiable.

—Engels, Friedrich

This regard for the liberties of Europe, this care at one time for the protestant interest, this excessive love for the balance of power, is neither more nor less than a gigantic system of outdoor relief for the aristocracy of Great Britain.

—Bright,John

   The true aristocracyand the true proletariat of the world are both in understanding with tragedy. To them it is the fundamental principle of God, and the key, the minor key, to existence. They differ in this way from the bourgeoisie of all classes, who deny tragedy, who will not tolerate it, and to whom the word tragedy means in itself unpleasantness.

—Blixen, Karen, Baroness pseudonym Isak Dinesen