Hypertext Webster Gateway: "democracy"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Democracy \De*moc"ra*cy\, n.; pl. {Democracies}. [F.
d['e]mocratie, fr. Gr. dhmokrati`a; dh^mos the people +
kratei^n to be strong, to rule, kra`tos strength.]
1. Government by the people; a form of government in which
the supreme power is retained and directly exercised by
the people.
2. Government by popular representation; a form of government
in which the supreme power is retained by the people, but
is indirectly exercised through a system of representation
and delegated authority periodically renewed; a
constitutional representative government; a republic.
3. Collectively, the people, regarded as the source of
government. --Milton.
4. The principles and policy of the Democratic party, so
called. [U.S.]
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
democracy
n 1: the political orientation of those who favor government by
the people or by their elected representatives
2: a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body
of citizens who can elect people to represent them [syn: {republic},
{commonwealth}] [ant: {autocracy}]
3: the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized
group can make decisions binding on the whole group [syn:
{majority rule}]
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