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DEMOCRATIC
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Representing or appealing to or adapted for the benefit of the people at large
Example:
popular fiction
Synonyms:
democratic; popular
Classified under:
Similar:
common (having no special distinction or quality; widely known or commonly encountered; average or ordinary or usual)
Derivation:
democracy (the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Characterized by or advocating or based upon the principles of democracy or social equality
Example:
a democratic scorn for bloated dukes and lords
Classified under:
Similar:
antiauthoritarian (opposed to authoritarianism)
classless; egalitarian (favoring social equality)
parliamentary (having the supreme legislative power resting with a body of cabinet ministers chosen from and responsible to the legislature or parliament)
parliamentary (in accord with rules and customs of a legislative or deliberative assembly)
participatory (affording the opportunity for individual participation)
popular (carried on by or for the people (or citizens) at large)
representative (being or characteristic of government by representation in which citizens exercise power through elected officers and representatives)
republican (having the supreme power lying in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them or characteristic of such government)
Also:
elected; elective (subject to popular election)
Antonym:
undemocratic (not in agreement with or according to democratic doctrine or practice or ideals)
Derivation:
democracy (the political orientation of those who favor government by the people or by their elected representatives)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Belong to or relating to the Democratic Party
Example:
Democratic senator
Classified under:
Relational adjectives (pertainyms)
Pertainym:
democrat (an advocate of democratic principles)
Derivation:
democracy (a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them)
