Word family noun democracy democrat democratization adjective democratic ≠ undemocratic verb democratatize adverb democratically ≠ undemocratically
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdemocracyde‧moc‧ra‧cy /dɪˈmɒkrəsi $ dɪˈmɑː-/ ●●○ W3 noun (plural democracies) 1 [uncountable]PG a system of government in which every citizen in the country can vote to elect its government officials a return to democracy after 16 years of military rule► see thesaurus at government2 [countable]PG a country that has a government which has been elected by the people of the country a parliamentary democracy Western democracies3 [uncountable]PGC a situation or system in which everyone is equal and has the right to vote, make decisions etc → democratic democracy within the trade unionsCOLLOCATIONS – Meaning 2: a country that has a government which has been elected by the people of the countryadjectivesa parliamentary democracy (=one with an elected parliament)Britain is a parliamentary democracy.a multiparty democracy (=with a number of political parties)It is one of the few countries in the area that is a true multiparty democracy.a Western democracyThe sanctions are supported by all the major Western democracies.a new democracyThey are facing many of the same problems that all new democracies experience.an emerging/fledgling democracy (=new)the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe Examples from the Corpus
democracy• In 1974, democracy returned to Greece after seven years of military rule.• Costa Rica is a democracy.• The team's partnership is not a democracy; executives Larry Baer and Bob Quinn are the ones who make decisions.• And the growth of an emerging democracy over the past two years provides an outlet for his critics' denunciations.• The answer is: industrial democracy.• His statistical analysis reveals a strong positive effect of per capita income on the level of democracy.• We agree that it is the best way to help those countries to establish sound democracies and a sound economy.• the democracies of Western Europe• Adolfo Suarez supervised Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s.• You say that this conflict is partly the result of governments in New Delhi undermining democracy in the state.• Until the past decade, the technology on which democracy had operated for some 2,500 years had not changed much.parliamentary democracy• As a whole it reaffirmed liberal individualism, pluralism and parliamentary democracy.• In most parliamentary democracies voter turnout tends to be around half to three-quarters of the electorate.• But the Party continues to flout its own rules and the basic principles of parliamentary democracy.• That they are an essential part of any system of parliamentary democracy will be of limited consolation to them.• Within our system of parliamentary democracy, only inter-party competition was seen as crucial and desirable.• As Winston Churchill once said, parliamentary democracy is a very bad system - but no one has found a better one.• For the whole sample, the comparison reveals that presidential democracies are more likely to break down than parliamentary democracies.• However, we should interfere in local government with some trepidation because local democracy and local accountability underpin parliamentary democracy and accountability.From Longman Business Dictionarydemocracyde‧moc‧ra‧cy /dɪˈmɒkrəsidɪˈmɑː-/ noun (plural democracies)1[uncountable] a system of government in which members of the government are elected by the people of a countryThey carried banners demanding democracy and a free press.2[countable] a country that has a government which has been elected by the people of the countryHe said we should be increasing our support for Russia’s democracy.3[countable, uncountable] a situation or system in which everyone has the right to be involved in making decisionsPeople will continue to view our party with suspicion until we display democracy within our organization. → workplace democracyOrigin democracy (1500-1600) Old French democratie, from Greek demokratia, from demos “people” + -kratia “rule” 