Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Government by the wealthy.
  • noun A wealthy class that controls a government.
  • noun A government or state in which the wealthy rule.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Government by the wealthy class; the rule of wealth; also, a class ruling by virtue of its wealth. Also plutarchy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A form of government in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the wealthy classes; government by the rich; also, a controlling or influential class of rich men.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Government by the wealthy.
  • noun A controlling class of the wealthy.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a political system governed by the wealthy people

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek ploutokratiā : ploutos, wealth; see pleu- in Indo-European roots + -kratiā, -cracy.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek πλουτοκρατία (ploutokratia, "rule of the wealthy"), from πλουτοκρατέω (ploutokrateō, "I rule through wealth"), from πλοῦτος (ploutos, "wealth") + κρατέω (krateō, "I rule") (from κράτος (kratos, "power”, “might")).

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