From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englisharistocracyar‧is‧toc‧ra‧cy /ˌærəˈstɒkrəsi $ -ˈstɑː-/ noun (plural aristocracies) [countable usually singular]HIGH POSITION OR RANK the people in the highest social class, who traditionally have a lot of land, money, and power dukes, earls, and other members of the aristocracy the landed aristocracy (=who own a lot of land) → upper class
Examples from the Corpus
aristocracy• Therefore, the monastic reforms should be regarded at least as much in the light of co-operation as of combat between king and aristocracy.• He dresses conservatively-black shoes and all-the only hint at aristocracy being a tiny monogram on the shirt pocket.• The nation's elite sends its children to boarding schools in the tradition of the British aristocracy.• Governing elites are usually differentiated into military, religious, and commercial aristocracies.• Her people belonged to the old aristocracy of New York.• Daughters of rich merchants would often marry into the aristocracy.• His conception of the aristocracy was an exalted one; so was his conception of empire.• The aristocracy may not have done as well out of the change as its authors planned.• We just have to hope your aristocracy don't read the Daily Express.landed aristocracy• This alliance of the monarchs with the army and the landed aristocracy lasted into the twentieth century.• Here too wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of the magistracy, the clergy and the landed aristocracy.• The traditional governing class with deep roots in the landed aristocracy was gradually displaced as the Third Reich consolidated its position.• They bought their way into the landed aristocracy.• On the one hand they resented the entrenched power of the landed aristocracy.• They expressed the triumph of legal equality and state authority over the privileges of the landed aristocracy.Origin aristocracy (1400-1500) French aristocratie, from Late Latin, from Greek aristokratia, from aristos “best” + -kratia “-cracy” 