Find more facts and information on our topic page about
aristocracy
aristocracy
The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English
|
2009
|
© The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information)
Copyright
ar·is·toc·ra·cy
/ ˌariˈstäkrəsē/
•
n.
(pl. -cies) [treated as sing. or pl.] (usu. the aristocracy)
the highest class in certain societies, esp. those holding hereditary titles or offices.
∎
a form of government in which power is held by the nobility.
∎
a state governed in this way.
∎ fig.
a group regarded as privileged or superior in a particular sphere:
high-level technocrats make up a large part of this “technical aristocracy.”
ORIGIN: late 15th cent.: from Old French aristocratie, from Greek aristokratia, from aristos ‘best’ + -kratia ‘power.’ The term originally denoted the government of a state by its best citizens, later by the rich and wellborn, hence the sense ‘nobility,’ regardless of the form of government (mid 17th cent.).
Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.
|
Scary road to an American Aristocracy
Newspaper article from: Chicago Sun-Times; 8/6/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...establish an American aristocracy. The fight against aristocracy goes back to the...Nobody feared aristocracies more than Thomas...Jefferson's day, aristocracies were far-reaching...replace a permanent aristocracy with what he called...
|
|
Debating England's Aristocracy in the 1790s: Pamphlets, Polemics and Political Ideas.(Book review)
Magazine article from: The Historian; 3/22/2007; ; 700+ words
; Debating England's Aristocracy in the 1790s: Pamphlets, Polemics...seeks to examine the depictions of aristocracy and privilege in a new way. Specifically...political and social roles of the aristocracy--or, as more precisely defined...
|
|
The Aristocracy in Europe: 1815-1914.
Magazine article from: Journal of Social History; 12/22/1994; ; 700+ words
; ...experience of the aristocracies of Russia, Britain...difficult. The word "aristocracy" is, after all...the survival of the aristocracy into the twentieth...provocative. All three aristocracies were to a degree open...but the English aristocracy was the most homogeneous...
|
|
The aristocracy goes middle class
Magazine article from: The Spectator; 4/5/1997; ; 700+ words
; ...are led to believe that the British aristocracy are aristocratic. His delicate brush...looking at these three exquisites, that aristocracy really did mean the best. The dream...childhood and beyond taught me that our aristocracy is ruled by convention. There was an...
|
|
The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire
Magazine article from: Trinity Journal; 10/1/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...Salzman. The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the...as the Christianization of the Roman aristocracy and the drama of dying and rising religions...What did it take to make the Roman aristocracy in the later western empire change its...
|
|
Aristocracy, Aaron Burr, and the poetry of conspiracy.(Critical Essay)
Magazine article from: Early American Literature; 9/22/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...country was the anonymous verse satire Aristocracy, a work that stands not only as the...Against this backdrop, the author of Aristocracy would present Burr largely as he has...general influence of the people" (Aristocracy I. iii) and usurp absolute power for...
|
|
|
Lords of Misrule: Hostility to Aristocracy in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Britain.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Journal of Social History; 9/22/2006; ; 700+ words
; Lords of Misrule: Hostility to Aristocracy in Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth...book about the decline of the British aristocracy as to search out the roots of opposition...virtue to disclose the moral case against aristocracy, especially as developed in the pages...
|
|
The truth about America's aristocracy -- and the cash that made its world go 'round.
Newspaper article from: The Washington Post; 11/3/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...is not an apology for the aristocracy but an exploration of its...that we do in fact have an aristocracy, albeit one that is American...cities had and have their aristocracies -- indeed it can be argued...Los Angeles, with its aristocracy of celebrity, and Washington...
|
|
The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the Western Roman Empire.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Church History; 3/1/2006; ; 700+ words
; ...first and the aristocracy held out the longest...ecclesiastical aristocracies in the West from...predominated in the aristocracy (185-87...clear just who the aristocracies (Italian and...with those of the aristocracies. Thus becoming...and more of the aristocracy became Christian...
|
|
|
The Image of Aristocracy in Britain: 1000-1300.(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: The Historian; 1/1/1994; ; 700+ words
; ...personnel and shape of the titled aristocracy was much less thorough than...centuries under discussion, the aristocracy widened out from magnates...of relationships among the aristocracies of England, Wales, and...was by that language that aristocracy had learned to express itself...
|
|
Aristocracy
Encyclopedia entry from: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
Aristocracy The term aristocracy derives from the Greek words aristos and kratos, meaning...x201D; In denoting hierarchy and social differentiation, aristocracy has often been used synonymously with elites or oligarchy . More...
|
|
aristocracy
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
...the political concept of aristocracy derives from Plato's formulation...Republic. The criteria on which aristocracy is based may vary greatly...society. Historically, aristocracies have usually rested on landed...the framework of monarchy . Aristocracy may be based on wealth as...
|
|
labour aristocracy
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to British History
labour aristocracy. Top 10–15 per cent of...1890s. The gulf between the labour aristocracy and the mass of unskilled or semi...end of the social stratum the labour aristocracy merged with the lower middle class...
|
|
Aristocracy and Gentry
Encyclopedia entry from: Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
ARISTOCRACY AND GENTRY ARISTOCRACY AND GENTRY. In most European countries society and politics...princely grant or confirmation to be valid. Whereas both the aristocracy and the lower nobility in most European countries were increasingly...
|
|
aristocracy of labour
Book article from: A Dictionary of Sociology
aristocracy of labour See LABOUR ARISTOCRACY .
|
