ARISTOCRACY

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does aristocracy mean? 

• ARISTOCRACY (noun)
  The noun ARISTOCRACY has 2 senses:

1. a privileged class holding hereditary titles

2. the most powerful members of a society

  Familiarity information: ARISTOCRACY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ARISTOCRACY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A privileged class holding hereditary titles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

aristocracy; nobility

Hypernyms ("aristocracy" is a kind of...):

elite; elite group (a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status)

Meronyms (members of "aristocracy"):

aristocrat; blue blood; patrician (a member of the aristocracy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "aristocracy"):

noblesse (members of the nobility (especially of the French nobility))

baronage; peerage (the peers of a kingdom considered as a group)

baronetage (the collective body of baronets)

knighthood (aristocrats holding the rank of knight)

samurai (feudal Japanese military aristocracy)

Instance hyponyms:

Ferdinand and Isabella (joint monarchs of Spain; Ferdinand V and Isabella I)

William and Mary (joint monarchs of England; William III and Mary II)

Derivation:

aristocratic (belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The most powerful members of a society

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

aristocracy; gentry

Hypernyms ("aristocracy" is a kind of...):

upper class; upper crust (the class occupying the highest position in the social hierarchy)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "aristocracy"):

landed gentry; squirearchy (the gentry who own land (considered as a class))

Derivation:

aristocratic (belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy)

 Context examples 

But merchants and traders are cowardly rulers at best; they grunt and grub all their days in the trough of money-getting, and I have swung back to aristocracy, if you please.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He suddenly saw the aristocracy of the people who did not labor.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)