as in democracy
government in which the supreme power is held by the people and used by them directly or indirectly through representation
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"
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Recent Examples of republic
Leaders of several former Soviet republics, including Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, have previously used new or amended constitutions to revise statutory term limits.
—
ABC News, 16 Mar. 2026
There was no foreseeable impediment to our messy but functional republic.
—Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2026
After all, Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco, who led the overthrow of the republic and then ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975, still casts a long, and often painful, shadow.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 12 Mar. 2026
Irish America’s many stories In time, memories of these pro-British parades and banquets proved unseemly in the fledgling republic.
—Cian T. McMahon, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for republic
ABC News, 16 Mar. 2026
There was no foreseeable impediment to our messy but functional republic.
—Chicago Tribune, 13 Mar. 2026
After all, Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco, who led the overthrow of the republic and then ruled from 1939 until his death in 1975, still casts a long, and often painful, shadow.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 12 Mar. 2026
Irish America’s many stories In time, memories of these pro-British parades and banquets proved unseemly in the fledgling republic.
—Cian T. McMahon, The Conversation, 11 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for republic
Recent Examples of Synonyms for republic
democracy
Noun
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Addressing a crowd of at least 100,000 on Budapest's Heroes' Square, Magyar charged Orbán's government with turning Hungarians against one another through propaganda and divisive policies, and of steering the country away from its rightful place among Western democracies.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 Mar. 2026
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The same is true of Ukraine, whose democracy (with its substantial flaws) Russia could not abide as a standing alternative to its own system, and of Taiwan, which cannot threaten China, but whose flourishing demonstrates that Beijing’s system is not the only option.—
Graeme Wood,
The Atlantic,
15 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Republic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/republic. Accessed 21 Mar. 2026.
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