Standard Lemma guide

psephocracy

noun · 1 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: psĭfŏʹkrəsi
  • Received-Pronunciation: psēfŏʹkrəsi
  • Received-Pronunciation: psĕfŏʹkrəsi
  • Received-Pronunciation: /psɪˈfɒkɹəsi/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /psiːˈfɒkɹəsi/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /psɛˈfɒkɹəsi/
  • US: psēfŏʹkrəsi
  • US: /psiˈfɑkɹəsi/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Government by ballot-elected representatives; representative democracy. Often contrasted with democracy, with which it is unfavourably compared for its lack of demotic participation in the political process outside of elections.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English pseph- Ancient Greek -ο- (-o-)der. Latin -o-bor. English -o- Proto-Indo-European *kret- Ancient Greek κρᾰ́τος (krắtos) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh2 Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek -κρᾰτῐ́ᾱ (-krătĭ́ā)bor. English -cracy English psephocracy From pseph- + -o- + -cracy.