OLIGARCHY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does oligarchy mean? 

• OLIGARCHY (noun)
  The noun OLIGARCHY has 1 sense:

1. a political system governed by a few people

  Familiarity information: OLIGARCHY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OLIGARCHY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A political system governed by a few people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Context example:

the big cities were notoriously in the hands of the oligarchy of local businessmen

Hypernyms ("oligarchy" is a kind of...):

form of government; political system (the members of a social organization who are in power)

Derivation:

oligarchic; oligarchical (of or relating to or supporting or characteristic of an oligarchy)

 Context examples 

Two million of your children are toiling to-day in this trader-oligarchy of the United States.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)