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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Democracy \De*moc"ra*cy\ (d[-e]*m[o^]k"r[.a]*s[y^]), noun; pl. {Democracies} (d[-e]*m[o^]k"r[.a]*s[i^]z). [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) 2.0 [wn]:
democracy
noun
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}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
76 Moby Thesaurus words for "democracy": absolute monarchy, aristocracy, autarchy, autocracy, autonomy, coalition government, collective farm, collectivism, collectivity, collegiality, colonialism, common ownership, commonwealth, communal effort, communion, communism, community, constitutional government, constitutional monarchy, cooperation, cooperative society, dictatorship, dominion rule, duarchy, duumvirate, dyarchy, federal government, federation, feudal system, garrison state, gerontocracy, heteronomy, hierarchy, hierocracy, home rule, kibbutz, kolkhoz, limited monarchy, martial law, meritocracy, militarism, military government, mob rule, mobocracy, monarchy, neocolonialism, ochlocracy, oligarchy, pantisocracy, patriarchate, patriarchy, police state, profit sharing, public ownership, pure democracy, regency, representative democracy, representative government, republic, self-determination, self-government, sharecropping, social democracy, socialism, state ownership, stratocracy, technocracy, thearchy, theocracy, totalitarian government, totalitarian regime, town meeting, triarchy, triumvirate, tyranny, welfare state
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