Standard Lemma guide

gerontocracy

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /ˌdʒɛɹənˈtɒkɹəsi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Government by elders; government by elderly rulers.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: senilocracy, graocracy (archaic)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: senilocracy, graocracy

Antonyms: juvenocracy

2

noun

Meaning 2

a political system governed by old men

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: political system, form of government

History

Etymology

From geronto- + -cracy, from Ancient Greek.

Across languages

Translations

38 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: gjerontokraci — government by elders
  • Arabic: غَيْرُونْتُوقْرَاطِيَّة (ḡayrūntūqrāṭiyya) — government by elders
  • Basque: gerontokrazia — government by elders
  • Belarusian: герантакратыя (hjerantakratyja) — government by elders
  • Bulgarian: геронтокрация (gerontokracija) — government by elders
  • Catalan: gerontocràcia — government by elders
  • Chinese Mandarin: 老人政治 (lǎorén zhèngzhì) — government by elders
  • Czech: gerontokracie — government by elders
  • Danish: gerontokrati — government by elders
  • Dutch: gerontocratie — government by elders
  • Esperanto: gerontokratio — government by elders
  • Estonian: gerontokraatia — government by elders
  • Finnish: gerontokratia — government by elders
  • French: gérontocratie — government by elders
  • German: Gerontokratie — government by elders
  • Greek: γεροντοκρατία (gerontokratía) — government by elders
  • Hebrew: גרונטוקרטיה (gerontokrátya) — government by elders
  • Hungarian: gerontokrácia — government by elders
  • Italian: gerontocrazia — government by elders
  • Japanese: 長老支配 (chōrōshihai) — government by elders
  • Korean: 장로정치 (jangnojeongchi) — government by elders
  • Latvian: gerontokrācija — government by elders
  • Lithuanian: gerontokracija — government by elders
  • Malay: gerontokrasi — government by elders
  • Norwegian Bokmål: gerontokrati — government by elders
  • Polish: gerontokracja — government by elders
  • Portuguese: gerontocracia — government by elders
  • Romanian: gerontocrație — government by elders
  • Russian: геронтокра́тия (gerontokrátija) — government by elders
  • Serbo-Croatian: геронтокрација — government by elders
  • Serbo-Croatian: gerontokracija — government by elders
  • Sicilian: jiruntucrazzìa — government by elders
  • Slovak: gerontokracia — government by elders
  • Slovene: gerontokracija — government by elders
  • Spanish: gerontocracia — government by elders
  • Swedish: gerontokrati — government by elders
  • Turkish: gerontokrasi — government by elders
  • Ukrainian: геронтократія (herontokratija) — government by elders