republic

noun

re·​pub·​lic ri-ˈpə-blik 

plural republics

1

a

: a government in which the power belongs to a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by the leaders and representatives elected by those citizens to govern according to law

b

often Republic plural Republics : a country, state, or territory having a republican (see republican entry 2 sense 2a) government

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands …

—Francis Bellamy

The United States, which the eighteenth-century American elite sought to refashion as a new Roman Republic …

—Michael Lind

also : a usually specified government of such a country, state, or territory

the French Fourth Republic

c

: a country, state, or territory that is headed by someone other than a hereditary monarch but whose citizens do not hold real power

the former Soviet republics

Note: In modern times, this sense is used in the names of various countries whose forms of government vary greatly and include dictatorships and totalitarian regimes.

see also banana republic

2

a

figurative : a community of beings thought to resemble a political republic especially by exhibiting a general equality among members

… a curious republic of industrious hornets …

—Michel-Guillaume-Saint-Jean de Crèvecoeur

b

: a group of people freely engaged in a specified activity

a republic of scholars

[Zora Neale] Hurston makes explicit two contradictory and submerged elements of that tradition: First, and most visibly, she restores funkiness and folk roots to black women's discourse; second, and no less important, she dares to articulate black women's craving for independent recognition in the republic of letters. [=the people who read and write literature]

—Elizabeth Fox-Genovese

Did you know?

Is the United States a democracy or a republic?

One of the most commonly encountered questions about the word democracy has nothing to do with its spelling or pronunciation, and isn’t even directly related to the meaning of the word itself. That question is “is the United States a democracy or a republic?” The answer to this, as with so many other questions about meaning, may be phrased as some form of “it depends.”

Some people assert that a country calling itself a democracy must be engaged in direct (or pure) democracy, in which the people of a state or region vote directly for policies, rather than elect representatives who make choices on their behalf. People who follow this line of reasoning hold that the United States is more properly described as a republic, using the following definition of that word: "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."

However, both democracy and republic have more than a single meaning, and one of the definitions we provide for democracy closely resembles the definition of republic given above: "a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections."

So if someone asks you if the United States is a democracy or a republic, you may safely answer the question with either “both” or “it depends.”

Synonyms

• democracy
• self-government
• self-rule

Examples of republic in a Sentence

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.”

Recent Examples on the Web

Related Articles Mathews: The American democratic republic is dead. —Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 24 Apr. 2025

Robust discussion and disagreement are equally important to maintaining a healthy constitutional republic. —Daniel Hall, The Conversation, 24 Apr. 2025

Blaming the fall of a republic on a blockade instead of a dad-versus-son battle royale is like making the Millennium Falcon slow down for speed bumps. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2025

What keeps a republic on its legs is good citizenship. —Carl Burdette, Baltimore Sun, 21 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

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

1596, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing republic

• banana republic

Rhymes for republic

• nonpublic
• public
• semipublic

Kids Definition

republic

noun

re·​pub·​lic ri-ˈpəb-lik 

1

: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who is usually a president

2

: a government in which supreme power belongs to the citizens through their right to vote

3

: a political unit having a republican form of government

4

: a political and territorial unit of the former nations of the U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, or Yugoslavia

Etymology

from French république "republic," derived from Latin respublica "republic, public matters, commonweal," literally "public things," from res "thing, matter" and publica, a feminine form of publicus "relating to the people as a whole, public" — related to public, real, rebus

Legal Definition

republic

noun

re·​pub·​lic

1

: a government having a chief of state who is not a monarch and who in modern times is usually a president

also : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government

2

: 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

also : a political unit (as a nation) having such a form of government