Oligarchies Definition & Meaning

Oligarchy and Other Words for Rulers

Oligarchy is one of numerous English words for a type of rule or government. Some of these words, such as plutocracy, have an exceedingly similar meaning (both may be used to refer to rule by an economic elite, but oligarchy often has the additional connotation of corruption). Besides these two, we have meritocracy “a system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement,” monarchy “a form of government in which a country is ruled by a king or queen,” ochlocracy “government by the mob," and gerontocracy “rule by elders,” among many others.

Examples of oligarchy in a Sentence

Their nation is an oligarchy. An oligarchy rules their nation. The corporation is ruled by oligarchy.

Recent Examples on the Web Unlike the evil oligarchy of ancient Athens, the A.I. oligopoly set out to do good. — Wendell Wallach, Fortune, 16 June 2022 Suffice it to say that the overwhelmingly white professional-class women who don these costumes don’t inhabit a country on the verge of becoming a theocracy or even a patriarchy, but an oligarchy—the harms of which they’ll be relatively spared from. — Natalie Shure, The New Republic, 5 May 2022 After the United States overthrew the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893, white settlers formed an oligarchy of sugar production companies, known as The Big Five, that controlled the Hawaiian islands in the first half of the 20th century. — Priscilla Totiyapungprasert, The Arizona Republic, 29 Apr. 2022 Owning a superyacht, the ultimate status symbol, is practically a prerequisite for joining Russia’s oligarchy. — Jaclyn Trop, Robb Report, 7 Apr. 2022 Page acknowledges that American oligarchy is different — it is embedded in the political system. — New York Times, 6 Apr. 2022 Yet the Cardinals are the team in this year’s quartet of powerhouses that has generally been the most overlooked, a reminder of the oligarchy still lingering in a sport seeing more parity every season. — Tim Bielik, cleveland, 1 Apr. 2022 Except that the framers had no way of anticipating that a novel form of oligarchy would soon emerge to challenge constitutional democracies: moneyed aristocracies ruling by virtue not of formal titles but of concentrated wealth. — Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2022 The seeds of Russia’s oligarchy were sown between 1992 and 1994, when the newly independent Russian Federation ran a voucher privatization effort. — John Hyatt, Forbes, 14 Mar. 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oligarchy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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