republic

re·pub·lic

noun \ri-ˈpə-blik\

Definition of REPUBLIC

1

a (1) : a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government b (1) : a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law (2) : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government c : a usually specified republican government of a political unit <the French Fourth Republic>

2

: a body of persons freely engaged in a specified activity <the republic of letters>

3

: a constituent political and territorial unit of the former nations of Czechoslovakia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Yugoslavia

Examples of REPUBLIC

1. <when asked by a passerby what sort of government the constitutional convention had formulated for the new nation, Benjamin Franklin memorably replied, “A republic, if you can keep it”>

Origin of REPUBLIC

French république, from Middle French republique, from Latin respublica, from res thing, wealth + publica, feminine of publicus public — more at real, public

First Known Use: 1604

Related to REPUBLIC

Synonyms: democracy, self-government, self-rule

Related Words: pure democracy; home rule, self-determination; autonomy, sovereignty (also sovranty)

Near Antonyms: despotism, dictatorship, monarchy, monocracy, totalitarianism, tyranny

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Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, popular sovereignty, socialism

Rhymes with REPUBLIC

go public, make public