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-cracy. World English Historical Dictionary

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-cracy. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. -cracy formerly also -cratie, -crasie, a. F. -cratie (-krasi), ad. med.L. -cratia, a. Gr. -κρατία, in composition ‘power, rule,’ f. κράτος strength, might, rule, authority. Already used in Greek in ἀριστοκρατία aristocracy, rule of the best-born, δημοκρατία democracy, popular government, ὀχλοκρατία ochlocracy, mob-rule, πλουτοκρατία plutocracy, an oligarchy of wealth, θεοκρατία theocracy, rule of God; whence ANGELOCRACY, government by angels, bestiocracy (The Times, 21 Nov., 1863), the rule of beasts. All these have a preceding o belonging to or representing the stem vowel of the first element, but which tends to be viewed as part of the suffix, as if this were -ocracy. The word aristocracy has in modern times, in Fr. and Eng., passed into the senses of ‘a ruling body of nobles, the nobles as a ruling class, political power, or upper class,’ after which democracy has received the sense of ‘the people or lower class as a political power or element,’ and plutocracy that of ‘a class ruling or influential by virtue of its wealth.’

1   Hence the suffix, in the form -ocracy, has been added to English words, to designate in mockery or ridicule any dominant, superior, or aspiring class, as in the following (mostly colloquial or newspaper words); barristerocracy, brokerocracy, capocracy, millocracy, shipocracy, shoddyocracy (barristers, brokers, cap-setting women, mill-owners, ship-owners, shoddy-manufacturers, as classes of social standing or pretensions); see also BEEROCRACY, CLUBOCRACY, COTTONOCRACY, COUNTYOCRACY, MOBOCRACY, SNOBOCRACY, SHOPOCRACY, SLAVEOCRACY, etc.

2 1866.  Lond. Rev., 6 Jan., 6/1. The Lord Lieutenant … holds a court for the barristerocracy of Dublin to wear periodical pumps in.

3 1860.  Lit. Churchman, VI. 270/1. The ‘demoralising’ influence of a slipper-working ‘capocracy,’ upon the minds especially of the younger clergy.

4 1838.  Northern Star, 14 April, 2/5. A shallow young fellow at the fag-end of the millocracy of the town.

5 1850.  L’pool Merc., 29 Oct., 3/6. The present estrangement which is continually manifesting itself between the shipocracy and the shopocracy.

6 1853.  M. Grimshaw, in Preston Chron., 15 Oct., 3/4. Let the ‘shoddyocracy’ of Preston swallow that pill as best they could.

7 1887.  P. Kropotkin, in 19th Cent., Aug., 159. Anarchy … is obviously as incompatible with plutocracy as with any other kind of cracy.

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