ochlocracy

ochlocracy

English

WOTD – 25 September 2007

Etymology

From Middle French ochlocratie, from Ancient Greek ὀχλοκρατία (okhlokratía), from ὄχλος (ókhlos, “multitude, crowd”) + κράτος (krátos, “power”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɒkˈlɒk.ɹə.si/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑkˈlɑ.kɹə.si/, /ɔkˈlɔ.kɹə.si/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: och‧lo‧cra‧cy

Noun

ochlocracy (plural ochlocracies)

1. Mob rule; government by the masses; mobocracy. [from 1475–1485.]
   • 2016 July 1, A[nthony] C[lifford] Grayling, “Professor A C Grayling’s letter to all 650 MPs urging Parliament not to support a motion to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty”, in New College of the Humanities‎, archived from the original on 2 July 2016:

     Referendums are snapshots of sentiment at a given point in time. Government by referendum is government by crowd acclamation: not democracy, but ochlocracy. That is exactly why we have representative democracy. If referendums would be a poor way to decide on health and safety, air traffic control, or education, they are an exceedingly poor way to decide a matter as momentous as membership of the EU. This is and should be a matter for Parliament, taking all factors into account.

   • 2021, Ronald T. Libby, American Ochlocracy: Black Lives Matter & Mob Rule, independently published →ISBN, back of the book:

     This constitutes a grave threat to the American Republic and degrades it into an Ochlocracy, or government by mob rule.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• ochlocrat
• ochlocratic
• ochlocratical
• ochlocratically

Translations

government by the masses

Armenian: խուժանավարություն (hy) (xužanavarutʿyun), ամբոխավարություն (hy) (amboxavarutʿyun) Chinese: Mandarin: 眾愚政治／众愚政治 (zhòngyúzhèngzhì), 暴民政治 (bàomínzhèngzhì) Czech: ochlokracie f, lůzovláda f Dutch: ochlocratie (nl) f Esperanto: oĥlokratio, amasrego, tumultrego Finnish: alhaisovalta French: ochlocratie (fr) f German: Ochlokratie f Greek: οχλοκρατία (el) f (ochlokratía) Icelandic: skrílræði n Italian: oclocrazia (it) f Japanese: 衆愚政治 (しゅうぐせいじ, shūguseiji), 暴民政治 (ぼうみんせいじ) Kazakh: охлократия (oxlokratiä) Korean: 중우정치(衆愚政治) (ko) (jung'ujeongchi) Polish: ochlokracja (pl) f Portuguese: oclocracia (pt) f Romanian: oclocrație f Russian: охлокра́тия (ru) (oxlokrátija) Spanish: oclocracia (es) f Thai: กฎหมู่ Ukrainian: охлокра́тія f (oxlokrátija)

References

1. ochlocracy. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved February 27, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ochlocracy
2. ochlocracy. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved February 27, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ochlocracy