Phrase guide

social democracy

noun · 3 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.

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Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A moderate left-wing political philosophy or ideology that aims to achieve socialist (socialistic) goals within a democratic society and a liberal democracy such as by means of a strong welfare state and nationalisation of private industry.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: government, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A society based on this ideology.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the belief in a gradual transition from capitalism to socialism by democratic means

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 orientation, ideology, political theory

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

40 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: الديمقراطية الاجتماعية — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Hakka Chinese: 社會民主主義 /社会民主主义 (sa-fi mìn-chú chú-ngi) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Chinese: 社會民主主義 /社会民主主义 (siā-hōe bîn-chú chú-gī) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Chinese Mandarin: 社會民主主義 /社会民主主义 (shèhuìmínzhǔzhǔyì) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Danish: socialdemokratisme — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Dutch: sociaaldemocratie — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Estonian: sotsiaaldemokraatia — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Finnish: sosiaalidemokratia — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • French: social-démocratie — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Georgian: სოციალ-დემოკრატია (social-demoḳraṭia) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • German: Sozialdemokratie — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Greek: σοσιαλδημοκρατία (sosialdimokratía) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Hebrew: דמוקרטיה חברתית — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Hindi: सामाजिक प्रजातंत्र (sāmājik prajātantra) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Hungarian: szociáldemokrácia — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Indonesian: demokrasi sosial — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Irish: daonlathas sóisialta — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Japanese: 社会民主主義 (shakai minshushugi) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Korean: 사회 민주주의 (sahoe minjujuui) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Lithuanian: socialdemokratija — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sosialdemokrati — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sosialdemokrati — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Occitan: sociaudemocracia — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Polish: esdecja — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Polish: socjaldemokracja — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Polish: socjaldemokratyzm — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Portuguese: social-democracia — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Romanian: social-democrație — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Russian: социал-демократия (social-demokratija) — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: социјалдемократија — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Serbo-Croatian: socijaldemokratija — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Slovene: socialnademokracija — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Spanish: socialdemocracia — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Swedish: socialdemokrati — moderate left-wing political philosophy
  • Dutch: sociaaldemocratie — social democratic society
  • Estonian: sotsiaaldemokraatia — social democratic society
  • Finnish: sosiaalidemokratia — social democratic society
  • French: social-démocratie — social democratic society
  • Portuguese: social-democracia — social democratic society
  • Swedish: socialdemokrati — social democratic society